Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 1: the Statistics Board Section 50 Power to authorise use of information by the Board
209.This section provides the Minister for the Cabinet Office with a power to make regulations permitting the Board to use information, received from a public authority through an existing gateway, to carry out its functions (except that of providing statistical services) where there is an existing legal barrier to the Board’s use of the information. As with section 47, the power could be used, for example, to provide the Board with wider access to information to improve the range or quality of the statistics being produced, or to reduce burdens on information providers, by removing the need for the Board to collect duplicate information.
210.This section uses the same mechanism as that in section 47 (described in detail in the note to that section). As in that section, regulations must be made with the consent of another Minister of the Crown (or the Treasury in the circumstances set out in subsection (4)(a)). The Minister for the Cabinet Office and the other person consenting must be satisfied both that the disclosure is required for the Board to carry out the functions for which the disclosure is authorised and that the disclosure is in the public interest.