Section 11: Disclosure of valuation information to Northern Ireland rating officials
Section 11 provides a new legal gateway to enable valuation officers in the VOA in England and Wales to disclose information to Northern Ireland rating officials to support them to discharge their statutory valuation functions. Mechanisms already exist for the sharing of valuation information between rating officials in England, Scotland and Wales, so this provision therefore removes an anomalous barrier to data-sharing within the UK.
	Subsections (1) and (2) in the new section 63D in the 1988 Act set out the limited circumstances in which information may be disclosed by the VOA to Northern Ireland rating officials:
The information is held in connection with the valuation officer’s statutory functions.
A Northern Ireland rating official reasonably believes it will assist them to perform their valuation functions.
The valuation officer considers it reasonable to disclose the information.
	Appropriate limits to the power are specified in subsections (4) and (5), including limits on the use and onward disclosure of information by NI rating officials for purposes other than their statutory functions. However, there are some exceptions to this set out in subsections (6) and (7).
	Subsection (8) applies the criminal offence and penalty provisions contained in section 19 of the CRCA in respect of the unauthorised use or further disclosure of information received under this section. This is a common approach where new information disclosure gateways are created relating to information which is subject to the duty of confidentiality in section 18 of the CRCA. The offence applies where a person’s identity is specified in or can be deduced from the wrongful disclosure.
	Subsection (9) ensures consistency with how information which identifies a person is treated under section 23 of the CRCA.