Part 2: Police Complaints, Discipline and Inspection Chapter 1: Police Complaints Section 19: Sensitive information received by IPCC: restriction on disclosure
Subsection (2) inserts new sections 21A and 21B into the 2002 Act to make provision for the handling of sensitive information when it is received by the IPCC and when that information is disclosed to another person by the IPCC or one of its investigators.
	New section 21A sets out that where the IPCC receives sensitive information, defined at subsection (3) of that section, the IPCC must not disclose the information or the fact that it has been received unless the relevant authority (as defined in subsection (5)) consents to disclosure. The restriction also applies to an investigator appointed under paragraph 18 of Schedule 3 in an IPCC directed investigation and to anyone who the IPCC or a paragraph 18 investigator discloses the information to.
	New section 21B places a duty on the person providing sensitive information to make the IPCC or paragraph 18 investigator aware that the information is intelligence service information or intercept information as defined at subsection (5) of section 21A. Subsection (3) makes amendments to Schedule 3 in light of the new provisions. Where the Commission would contravene new section 21A by submitting a copy of an investigation report in its entirety outside of the Commission, they must instead send a copy of the report after having removed or obscured any sensitive information which they must not disclose. In addition, the Commission is prevented from providing copies of further documents or items requested by the appropriate authority if they would contravene new section 21A.
	Subsection (3)(a) repeals existing provisions at paragraph 19ZD of Schedule 3 to the 2002 Act. The effect of new sections 21A and 21B is to restrict the IPCC from disclosing any sensitive information that it has received, such as that originally from one of the intelligence agencies, unless the relevant authority in the organisation concerned consents to disclosure.