Freedom of Information reforms
Summary
This White Paper, ‘Government
Response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee Report' (Cm. 7187),
contains the Government response to
'Freedom
of Information: Government's Proposals for Reform' (HC 415) published by
the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee in June 2007.
The
Response examines:
- Proposed changes to the Freedom of Information
charging regime - the decision has been taken not to make any changes to the
existing fees regulations. Measures to make better use of the existing
provisions to improve the way Freedom of Information works will be put in
place
- Coverage of Parliament under the Freedom of Information Act, in
particular correspondence between Members of Parliament and their constituents
– the Government maintains that Parliament should be covered by the Freedom of
Information Act
- The Constitutional Affairs Select Committee’s
recommendations that the Information Commissioner’s Office should be
responsible directly to Parliament - The Government’s position is that current
funding of the Information Commissioner’s Office, by the Ministry of Justice,
allows for independent decision-making by the Commissioner while permitting
proper scrutiny of resources.
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If you are concerned about freedom of information, this may be of
interest.
In a related statement to the House of Commons on 25th October
2007, the Lord Chancellor Jack Straw also announced:
“A consultation on
whether to extend the Freedom of Information Act to a range of organisations
that perform public functions, although theoretically some of them may legally
be in the private sector, and a review of the 30-year rule will be established.
“These days, huge amounts of personal data are held by the public and
private sector. The scale of those holdings has moved on significantly since
the passage of the Data Protection Act 1998. My right hon. Friend the Prime
Minister and I have therefore asked the Information Commissioner, Richard
Thomas, and Professor Mark Walport, the director of the Wellcome Trust, to
review the way in which we share and protect personal information in the public
and private sector.”
Read the full statement on
Hansard.
Find out more about the
Constitutional Affairs Select
Committee
See more on the
Ministry of
Justice
Read more about the
Information Commissioner’s Office
Read more about your rights, responsibilities and obligations to
freedom of information