Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill

Absolutely. There is all the difference in the world between public policy correspondence and private representations on personal matters to do with somebody’s health, for example—which my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris) mentioned earlier—or their immigration status, their educational background or housing, about which I get hundreds of letters. Those are entirely different. Everyone here would defend to the utmost the right of the public to know what we say about public policy. The arguments that we put on public policy and the replies that we get from the Government about them are perfectly proper matters for the public to know about. However, we would also defend the current legislative arrangements, under which inquiries connected with people’s personal circumstances are not public property.