Part 5: Digital Government Chapter 4: Fraud against the public sector Section 60: Code of practice
Subsection (1) sets out that a code of practice must be issued by the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office about the disclosure and use of information under the section 56 power. The code of practice must be consistent with the code of practice issued by the Information Commissioner under section 52B of the Data Protection Act 1998. All persons disclosing or using information under section 56 must have regard to the code of practice and to applicable codes of practice that the Information Commissioner has issued under section 51(3) of the Data Protection Act 1998 on the identification and reduction of risks to privacy or on information to be provided to data subjects on the use of information collected from them, so far as the codes apply. This would include the current codes which relate to privacy impact assessments and privacy notices. Before issuing or reissuing the code of practice, the Minister must consult the Information Commissioner, ministers in the devolved administrations, the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and other appropriate bodies and people as the Minister sees fit. Subsection (4) permits the relevant Minister to revise and re-issue the code of practice. The code of practice will be subject to approval by a resolution in both Houses of Parliament before it is first issued, and subject to the draft negative procedure in respect of every reissue. The code must be laid before the relevant devolved legislatures when it is issued and every time it is reissued.