Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill

Is not one of the strange things about the Bill the fact that the exemption is to apply only to MPs? If this problem exists and the Bill provides the way of tackling it, why then should not councillors’ representations about domestic violence or doctors’ letters to public authorities on housing waiting list matters be covered, too? If this is a problem—I do not believe that it is, as it is already covered by the Data Protection Act 1998—I cannot understand why MPs are being singled out. Might that not cause even more problems for other people, because the civil servants taking these decisions might well say that because the exemption applied only to MPs, there was effectively carte blanche? It could make the matter worse.