Commentary on Sections Annual report Section 45 – Supply of information
294.This section provides that, if certain conditions are met, a person or body must supply information to a SAB at its request.
295.Firstly, the information must be requested for the purpose of enabling or assisting the SAB to perform its functions.
296.Secondly, the person or body requested to supply the information must have functions or engage in activities such that the SAB considers it likely to have information relevant to a function of the SAB. This would potentially encompass, for instance, a GP who provided medical advice or treatment to an adult in respect of whom a SAB was carrying out a serious case review, or to a family member or carer of that adult. It would also potentially encompass a person carrying out voluntary work that brought him or her into contact with such an adult or with a family member or carer, or a minister of a church attended by such an adult or by a family member or carer.
297.Finally, either the condition set out in subsection (4) or that set out in subsection (5) of the section must be met. Subsection (4) relates to the content of the information that may be requested. Subsection (5) effectively enables the onward transmission to a SAB of information that it has previously requested, under the section, to be supplied to a third party, for instance to a NHS body, for collation and onward transmission to the SAB. (But an SAB may request that information be supplied to a third party for collation and onward transmission only if the third party itself is within subsection (3)).
298.Subsection (6) provides that an SAB may use information provided under this section only for the purposes of its functions.