UK Parliament / Open data

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill

Debate on bills on Friday, 18 May 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Blencathra. The answering member was Bridget Prentice.
Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill. Report stage second day. Amendments debated and negatived on division. Third reading debate. Agreed to on division (96 to 25). Bill passed.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

460 c882-945 

Session

2006-07

Department

Ministry of Justice

Legislative stage

Third reading and Report stage

Procedure

Private members' bills proceedings

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill. As amended in Public Bill Committee.
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Speaker | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) Order. I think that I have got the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. If Members care to refle...
Norman Baker | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) I hope that all hon. Members who wish to contribute will get an opportunity to do so, including thos...

Show all contributions (298)
Mark Fisher | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) May I finish my point, Madam Deputy Speaker? Unfortunately, I was unable to be here for the previous...
Simon Burns | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman’s interpretation is correct, why was a daily regional newspaper in the eastern...
Simon Burns | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) I notice that the hon. Gentleman’s amendment seeks to remove clause 1(3). When drafting that amendme...
Norman Baker | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) I have had no representations from my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Bob Russell), but the p...
Norman Baker | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) Well, I am trying to answer the point that the hon. Gentleman has already made. If correspondence ha...
Speaker | 460 c882-4 (Link to this contribution) I remind the House that with this we are discussing the following amendments: No. 14, in page 1, le...
Lord Beamish | 460 c884 (Link to this contribution) I am very interested in what the hon. Gentleman, who is speaking from the Liberal Democrat Front Ben...
Speaker | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) Order. For the avoidance of any misunderstanding, may I remind hon. Members that we are debating the...
Speaker | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that that is not a point of order. This is turning into a debate on other business. The ...
Speaker | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) Order. I have already said this morning that we must focus all our remarks and attention on the amen...
Lembit Opik | 460 c888 (Link to this contribution) As I understand the amendments, they seek to protect the law as it stands. Is my hon. Friend aware t...
Norman Baker | 460 c888 (Link to this contribution) That is correct. The right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (David Maclean) is in his place. A...
Norman Baker | 460 c888 (Link to this contribution) We have been looking for them. Indeed, with the publicity that the Bill has had, we have expected th...
Jo Swinson | 460 c888 (Link to this contribution) I was intrigued by the point raised by the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) about the nu...
Norman Baker | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to answer the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick)—
David Winnick | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that although, of course, the confidentiality of correspondence is ess...
David Winnick | 460 c886-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that Members of Parliament are not usually reluctant to complain. I ask...
Simon Burns | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Norman Baker | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is correct—
David Heath | 460 c890 (Link to this contribution) Before my hon. Friend moves on, may I express some concern about amendment No. 2? By deleting subsec...
Lembit Opik | 460 c890 (Link to this contribution) To finish the point about Deepcut, does my hon. Friend fully understand the concerns, and does he ag...
Simon Hughes | 460 c890-1 (Link to this contribution) In the hope that dealing with the question put to my hon. Friend will stop further interventions, my...
Lord Beamish | 460 c890 (Link to this contribution) Many of the amendments are tabled in the name of the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey ...
Norman Baker | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman’s point makes itself, but it is a telling one nevertheless: this is a Bill in sea...
Vincent Cable | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree not only that the Data Protection Act provides substantial protection for ...
Norman Baker | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) makes an important point, which reinforces yet ...
Norman Baker | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) I feel like Frankie Howerd in the prologue to ““Up Pompeii!””—I give way to my hon. Friend.
Speaker | 460 c891 (Link to this contribution) May I remind the hon. Gentleman of procedure? The question is not actually proposed until it is prop...
Simon Burns | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Norman Baker | 460 c884 (Link to this contribution) I heard your comments of course, Madam Deputy Speaker, a few moments ago and I will abide by them, n...
Norman Baker | 460 c884 (Link to this contribution) I think that you would rule me out of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, if I re-opened what happened in C...
Norman Baker | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker; I am trying to.
David Heath | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I seek clarification? The hon. Member for North Durha...
Norman Baker | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have dealt with amendment No. 2, so I will not—
Mark Fisher | 460 c885 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. He referred to Mr. Speaker’s remarks earlier in ...
Mark Fisher | 460 c888 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has accepted the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Win...
Norman Baker | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a telling point, which I had failed to make in my earlier contribution. I am pl...
Evan Harris | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) made an interesting point, but if we were concerned ...
Julia Goldsworthy | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the following quotation from the Committee stage will be helpful to my hon. Friend:"““Clearl...
Speaker | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Member for Lewes must be allowed to reply to the intervention.
Norman Baker | 460 c887 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Walsall, North is correct. Had there been example after example of MPs’ correspo...
Norman Baker | 460 c890 (Link to this contribution) I have some sympathy for my hon. Friend’s viewpoint. Let me make it plain: the best solution entirel...
Norman Baker | 460 c890 (Link to this contribution) I must not go too far along that line, Madam Deputy Speaker, or you will tell me off. Suffice it to ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c891 (Link to this contribution) rose in his place and claimed to move, That the Question be now proposed. The House proceeded to a ...
Norman Baker | 460 c890 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the hon. Gentleman may be guilty of tedious repetition if he carries on in that way. Con...
Speaker | 460 c891 (Link to this contribution) Far from attempting to gag Parliament, the motion is to allow the question to be proposed, to enable...
David Winnick | 460 c891 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. It goes without saying that I always respect the Chair, b...
Norman Baker | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) The point that my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) was making was that the F...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Gentleman considered the important point made by the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Ce...
Norman Baker | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, which is extremely relevant to the debate, and I hope ...
Simon Hughes | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend’s point is confirmed by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, sections 21 to 44 of whi...
David Howarth | 460 c927 (Link to this contribution) Most of the examples of data being wrongly released that have been given involve breaking the law. T...
Simon Hughes | 460 c926-7 (Link to this contribution) I am concerned about that. The substance of the Bill, although simple in its two propositions, touch...
Jim Cousins | 460 c926 (Link to this contribution) May I draw the hon. Gentleman’s attention to an amendment moved in Committee by the right hon. Membe...
Simon Hughes | 460 c926 (Link to this contribution) I accept that, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Evan Harris | 460 c930 (Link to this contribution) Is not one of the strange things about the Bill the fact that the exemption is to apply only to MPs?...
Simon Hughes | 460 c929 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. There is all the difference in the world between public policy correspondence and privat...
David Howarth | 460 c929 (Link to this contribution) Is not the ultimate conclusion from what my hon. Friend has said that what the Bill protects, in ter...
Simon Hughes | 460 c928-9 (Link to this contribution) I understand and accept the distinction, and the right hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I am...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c928 (Link to this contribution) I do not suggest that the law has been broken in all cases, but that an officer of one of 2,000 publ...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c921 (Link to this contribution) We have been told that the House gave no consideration to whether it should be covered as a public b...
Mark Fisher | 460 c921 (Link to this contribution) But chief constables, health authorities and other public bodies are not. Why should they struggle t...
Tim Farron | 460 c922 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mark Fisher | 460 c922 (Link to this contribution) That is a fine intervention and I hope that the hon. Lady catches your eye, Mr. Deputy Speaker, so t...
Baroness Kramer | 460 c922 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is being generous in giving way and I appreciate it. Does he agree that the Bill ...
Mark Fisher | 460 c921-2 (Link to this contribution) I agree. This House in its wisdom decided to go around the sort of problems that the right hon. Memb...
Mark Fisher | 460 c923 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am only too aware that many peop...
Tim Farron | 460 c923 (Link to this contribution) My esteemed neighbour, the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (David Maclean), commented i...
Mark Fisher | 460 c922-3 (Link to this contribution) Let me finish the point. All of us on both sides of the House agree that one of the best appointment...
Mark Fisher | 460 c923-4 (Link to this contribution) I will not argue the toss with you, Mr. Deputy Speaker—I would not dream of it—but the Members who w...
Speaker | 460 c923 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman is starting to stray away from the Third Reading of the Bill. How the Hous...
Speaker | 460 c924 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman has complained about the time allowed for debate today, but he is repeatin...
Mark Fisher | 460 c924 (Link to this contribution) Right. Well, I did not realise that what I was about to say was out of order in any way, but if I am...
Speaker | 460 c924 (Link to this contribution) Order. I respectfully suggest to the hon. Gentleman that now is not the time to start, and I mean th...
Jo Swinson | 460 c925 (Link to this contribution) The freedom of information legislation in Scotland is seen as an exemplar both in the time allowed—i...
Simon Hughes | 460 c924-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall speak against the Bill and argue that the House should reject it on Third Reading. I have no...
Speaker | 460 c926 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman is an experienced Member of the House, and he knows that Third Reading is ...
Simon Hughes | 460 c925-6 (Link to this contribution) I share that view. It was realised that there were proper limits to what people should be entitled t...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c920 (Link to this contribution) I posed the question because the answer is none. Not one minute in Standing Committee, not one minut...
Mark Fisher | 460 c920 (Link to this contribution) It was certainly not added by mistake.
Mark Fisher | 460 c920 (Link to this contribution) I cannot remember. The hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) is not in his place. He had to...
Jim Cousins | 460 c920 (Link to this contribution) Freedom of information applies to public bodies. However, many hon. Members want disclosure in other...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c919 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that amendments that substantially rewrote the Bill were moved, so th...
Mark Fisher | 460 c919-20 (Link to this contribution) I have always liked the right hon. Gentleman, but I have never seen him as a comedian. The idea that...
Mark Fisher | 460 c919 (Link to this contribution) Nobody is saying that the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border does not have support from al...
Speaker | 460 c917 (Link to this contribution) The point about tedious repetition is a matter for the Chair. I and my colleagues allow some latitud...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c917 (Link to this contribution) Madam Deputy Speaker, you are wise and right. I was conscious of the fact that I was beginning to re...
Mark Fisher | 460 c917-8 (Link to this contribution) This is a bad day for Parliament—a sad day. Members should understand what we would be doing by givi...
Julia Goldsworthy | 460 c918 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will probably recall that the draft Bill did not originally include the Houses of...
Mark Fisher | 460 c919 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s intervention. Of course I have read the Committee’s proceedings. ...
David Howarth | 460 c917 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. At what stage during this speech will the Standing Order ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c917 (Link to this contribution) The Liberal Democrats clearly intend to talk at length today. I intend to sit down in a moment and g...
Speaker | 460 c917 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is entirely up to the Member on their feet whether they choose to give way to an intervent...
David Howarth | 460 c917 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker—
David Howarth | 460 c917 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Blencathra | 460 c916 (Link to this contribution) I take my hon. Friend’s point. I was trying to answer the point made by the hon. Member for Stoke-on...
Lord Beamish | 460 c916 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman also agree with the comments by the hon. Member for North Devon in Com...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c916 (Link to this contribution) No, the hon. Lady has been harping on a little too much this morning. I may give way to her in a mom...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c916 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentioned the Standing Orders of the House. The Bill would amend a statute. He ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c915-6 (Link to this contribution) None of our Standing Orders has the force of law. Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that we should ca...
Mark Fisher | 460 c915 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. He is a very experienced parliamentarian and he unde...
Jo Swinson | 460 c916 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mark Fisher | 460 c915 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Blencathra | 460 c915 (Link to this contribution) Not yet. Please let me finish my sentence, because this is a very important point. The main, ill-inf...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c915 (Link to this contribution) This House could go back to dragging people before the Bar of the House; we could send them to the T...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c914 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for putting that on the record. We are all honourable Memb...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c914-5 (Link to this contribution) I want to move on to another point. I hope that Mr. Speaker will forgive me for mentioning it. The ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c914 (Link to this contribution) We all know that Third Reading debates are narrowly curtailed, and I cannot return to amendments tha...
Lord Beamish | 460 c914 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. Does he agree that it is a bit hypocritica...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c913 (Link to this contribution) Let me make a final point before taking any interventions. We must make decisions about the sanctit...
Fiona Mactaggart | 460 c913 (Link to this contribution) The point I wished to intervene on was that the right hon. Gentleman referred to the amount of amend...
Fiona Mactaggart | 460 c912 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Blencathra | 460 c912 (Link to this contribution) I will, but I should like to make a bit of progress first. The hon. Member for Lewes said:"““I and ...
Jo Swinson | 460 c913 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Blencathra | 460 c913 (Link to this contribution) Let me conclude this point. Such concerns were stated in Committee, not by me or other Conservatives...
Julia Goldsworthy | 460 c913 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Blencathra | 460 c912-3 (Link to this contribution) I will in a moment. It was because of problems that I saw arising through my work on the Commission...
Speaker | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sorry, but we are now entering into a debate. I have made a ruling and a decision, and w...
Simon Hughes | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I seek your leave to move that further consideration ...
Speaker | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) I must inform the hon. Gentleman that consideration has been completed, and we are now debating Thir...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c911-2 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third Time. I accept the genuine opinions of Members i...
Fiona Mactaggart | 460 c912 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Simon Hughes | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I understood your point about our not voting further on m...
Mark Fisher | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I understand your ruling and the thinking behind it, but ...
Speaker | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point, and I have reflected on it. Having done so, I must stick to...
Norman Baker | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I refer you to Standing Order No. 36, which states"““Afte...
Speaker | 460 c911 (Link to this contribution) It has never been the practice of the occupant of the Chair to engage in a discussion on the Floor o...
Speaker | 460 c908 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the Aye Lobby.
Speaker | 460 c909 (Link to this contribution) Order. I understand that separate Divisions are sought on a number of amendments. The approval of su...
Speaker | 460 c908 (Link to this contribution) Order. A Division is in progress. I shall not allow further points of order.
Lord Blencathra | 460 c908 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Once again, those in support of me and the Bill have mana...
Speaker | 460 c908 (Link to this contribution) The decision is in the hands of Members. The Division has been called. I have allowed more than two-...
Norman Baker | 460 c908 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. With respect, Standing Orders indicate—
Richard Shepherd | 460 c907-8 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. My understanding is that putting the Question ...
Speaker | 460 c907 (Link to this contribution) May I make it clear to hon. Members that, as the occupant of the Chair, I am bound by Standing Order...
Mark Fisher | 460 c907 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. There have been no speeches from Labour Member...
Speaker | 460 c907 (Link to this contribution) I remind hon. Members that numerous interventions were made during the debate.
David Heath | 460 c906 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is going to tell me that it does have something to do with amendment No. 2.
Jo Swinson | 460 c906 (Link to this contribution) It is indeed relevant to the amendment. As a Member of this Parliament and a Scottish Member, under ...
David Heath | 460 c906 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is neither Scottish nor Welsh. Surely he does not suggest that there is a further dif...
David Howarth | 460 c906-7 (Link to this contribution) There is a further difficulty everywhere. My hon. Friend’s comments are relevant to the amendment. I...
David Heath | 460 c906 (Link to this contribution) I am so happy that we simple souls in Somerset do not have these problems. It must be a daily proble...
Speaker | 460 c907 (Link to this contribution) Under the Standing Orders of the House, the occupant of the Chair is directed to put the Question fo...
Mark Fisher | 460 c907 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. You have not allowed a single Labour Member to speak. The...
David Heath | 460 c907 (Link to this contribution) That is a cogent point, which we tackled in the Standing Committee that considered the original meas...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c907 (Link to this contribution) rose in his place and claimed to move, That the Question be now put. Question put, That the Questio...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) It is not outrageous. Those are the facts, and the facts on the record speak for themselves. The Bil...
Speaker | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) Order. I call the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (David Maclean), who is on his feet.
Lord Blencathra | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) I just want to put on record that my Bill had been on the Order Paper for some time. It received a c...
David Heath | 460 c901 (Link to this contribution) Let us take the charitable view and suggest that the cases involved a properly constructed freedom o...
Julia Goldsworthy | 460 c901 (Link to this contribution) A number of anecdotal examples have been given today; one was given by the right hon. Member for Pen...
David Heath | 460 c901 (Link to this contribution) Having said that, I will take two interventions before I move on to the substance of the amendments....
David Heath | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker. There was a risk of interventions on interventions, and ...
David Heath | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) I will in just a moment. On the sparseness of the argument, I suspect that I know why we have not he...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Winnick | 460 c901-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will have heard my intervention in the Minister’s speech, when I said that the In...
David Heath | 460 c901 (Link to this contribution) I could not possibly use the word ““stitch-up””. It is inappropriate language. I shall return to the...
Jim Cousins | 460 c902 (Link to this contribution) May I bring the hon. Gentleman back to the intervention by his hon. Friend the hon. Member for Falmo...
David Heath | 460 c902 (Link to this contribution) I agree, of course, but my concern is that we are straying into Third Reading territory rather than ...
John Redwood | 460 c902-3 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that my right hon. Friend’s Bill would never allow the House to with...
David Heath | 460 c902 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, which crystallises many of the arguments ...
David Heath | 460 c903 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Some of those matters were debated o...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c901 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman was talking about the process, and process is important. Is it not the case that ...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c901 (Link to this contribution) —stitch-up, to quote the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), than a properly balanced Second Readi...
Alan Reid | 460 c904 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?
David Heath | 460 c903-4 (Link to this contribution) I would be accused of inconsistency if the very last words that I said prior to taking the last inte...
David Heath | 460 c903 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is, of course, absolutely right. Let me deal with amendment No. 2.
David Howarth | 460 c903 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving way and understand his impatience to get on to the substance of th...
David Heath | 460 c903 (Link to this contribution) I must make progress. I have not reached amendment No. 2 yet. This is the last time that I shall giv...
David Heath | 460 c903 (Link to this contribution) Of course there is. There are all manner of provisions in the original enactment that safeguard the ...
Sally Keeble | 460 c903 (Link to this contribution) In discussing the amendment, will the hon. Gentleman take into account my experience of freedom of i...
David Heath | 460 c903 (Link to this contribution) I must make progress, but the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble) has been very persisten...
David Heath | 460 c905 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has opened up a whole new area of debate. He is right, and we should have an amendmen...
Alan Reid | 460 c905 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has hit on an inconsistency in the Bill. He referred to county councils, but there is...
David Heath | 460 c906 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Banff and Buchan would have to write very clearly at the top of his letter, ““I ...
Hywel Williams | 460 c905-6 (Link to this contribution) There is a further level of absurdity. The hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) is a Membe...
David Heath | 460 c904-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is not wrong, nor has he missed anything—he is absolutely right in his interpreta...
Mark Fisher | 460 c904 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman referred to the House of Commons ““or”” the House of Lords. In subsection (3), ne...
David Heath | 460 c905 (Link to this contribution) It is a proper question. I am about to move on to amendment No. 14, because we may have exhausted am...
Simon Hughes | 460 c905 (Link to this contribution) We have tried to address that in the amendments that were tabled and from which Mr. Speaker has sele...
David Heath | 460 c904 (Link to this contribution) Let me develop my argument a little, if I may. There would be a serious imbalance in interpreting t...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) Moving on to discuss amendments Nos. 12, 24, 39 and 44, which would qualify the new exemption—
Bridget Prentice | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) I am giving the Government’s view on the Bill. In debates on private Members’ Bills, it is entirely ...
John Redwood | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister speaking as an individual or is she giving the Government’s view? Are Ministers and ...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point well. The matter should be for Parliament to decide, not the subject ...
Tim Farron | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) The Minister says that 110,000 public bodies are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Does she...
Barry Sheerman | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) I am one of the Labour Members who do not particularly like the Bill, but what sticks in my craw is ...
Speaker | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions are to be brief.
Bridget Prentice | 460 c895 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, because she allows me to explain why I feel that the amendments wou...
Lembit Opik | 460 c895 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady will know that through parliamentary correspondence over four years—and more recently,...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c895 (Link to this contribution) We have had no discussions in the Department about a plan to do such a thing. The hon. Gentleman wil...
Fiona Mactaggart | 460 c895 (Link to this contribution) The Minister says that the Government have taken a neutral stance on the Bill. Later, there will be ...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c895 (Link to this contribution) Not only did we support the Act, but we are the Government who brought in the Freedom of Information...
Norman Baker | 460 c894 (Link to this contribution) And Parliamentary Private Secretaries.
Bridget Prentice | 460 c894 (Link to this contribution) Dear, oh dear, oh dear. It comes to something when Members are expected not to vote on private Membe...
Simon Hughes | 460 c894-5 (Link to this contribution) Since the Minister has been in her job, have any of her colleagues in her Department or its predeces...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c894 (Link to this contribution) Let me make it clear right from the start not only that this is not a Government Bill, but that the ...
David Howarth | 460 c894 (Link to this contribution) If the Government are not supporting the Bill, how does the Minister explain the fact that when we v...
David Heath | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central is not exactly...
Fiona Mactaggart | 460 c898 (Link to this contribution) The Minister makes the reasonable point that it is not good enough to say that information should no...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c899 (Link to this contribution) The exemption, as currently drafted, is already subject to the public interest test. If the amendmen...
David Heath | 460 c899 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to speak on the large group of amendments before us. As I said in an earlier interv...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c898-9 (Link to this contribution) The Department for Constitutional Affairs issued guidance on the subject on more than one occasion, ...
Mark Fisher | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that the arguments in favour of the Bill are sparse, but hon. Members in the...
Speaker | 460 c900 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman is going on at length in his ““brief”” intervention. I call Mr. David Heat...
Simon Hughes | 460 c899 (Link to this contribution) And unsupported by the evidence.
David Heath | 460 c899 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend says, those arguments are unsupported by the evidence, too. We have asked time and...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c898 (Link to this contribution) I hear what my hon. Friend, and indeed other hon. Members, have said about the Information Commissio...
David Winnick | 460 c898 (Link to this contribution) Is it not of some interest that the Information Commissioner’s office stated that in nearly two and ...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c897 (Link to this contribution) I am not giving way to my hon. Friend.
Speaker | 460 c897 (Link to this contribution) Order. The Minister makes the point for me. It is up to the Member on their feet to choose whether t...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c897 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to move on, so that we can move the debate on. Am...
David Heath | 460 c897 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the Minister, first for giving way and secondly for making that clear point. T...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c897 (Link to this contribution) The original intention was to exempt Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act. It was a later ...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c897-8 (Link to this contribution) I would like to finish my point first. That does not mean that in all cases personal data will be ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c893 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend might have been making a good point—but on this occasion he is utterly wrong. The let...
Martin Salter | 460 c894 (Link to this contribution) May I read into the record the fact that the document that I handed to the right hon. Gentleman was ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c893 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to the hon. Lady, but I am going to be very brief. Of course the Library will not know ...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c893 (Link to this contribution) The piece of paper that my right hon. Friend held in his hand and cited as evidence to the House was...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c894 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving the House vital information. If the hon. Members who...
David Howarth | 460 c891 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. My difficulty is that I thought I heard the ho...
Fiona Mactaggart | 460 c893 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Blencathra | 460 c893 (Link to this contribution) I will comment briefly on the group of amendments to which the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c891 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Given that it would seem that more hon. Members are going...
Jonathan Djanogly | 460 c937-8 (Link to this contribution) I take the point that my right hon. Friend makes. I have read those guidelines and they are woolly. ...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c937 (Link to this contribution) On the subject of guidelines, has my hon. Friend seen the four pages of detailed guidelines relating...
Jonathan Djanogly | 460 c937 (Link to this contribution) This has been a very interesting debate and let me say at the outset that the Conservative party rem...
Speaker | 460 c937 (Link to this contribution) The closure motion must be entirely a matter for the Chair, having taken into consideration the way ...
Jo Swinson | 460 c936-7 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I seek your guidance. A lot of Members who rose to speak on...
Tim Farron | 460 c938 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Boswell of Aynho | 460 c938 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that there is strong potential for a deterrent effect on constituents, who...
Jonathan Djanogly | 460 c938 (Link to this contribution) As the Minister said, when one weighs up how one intends to vote today, the point that my hon. Frien...
Julia Goldsworthy | 460 c938 (Link to this contribution) There has been an exchange about the need for regulation and how the area is woolly. Surely the key ...
Jonathan Djanogly | 460 c938 (Link to this contribution) I certainly agree with the hon. Lady to the extent that if problems have arisen, they should be high...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c935 (Link to this contribution) I cannot accept that on the following basis: it is not for me to instruct, encourage or advise Membe...
Peter Soulsby | 460 c934-5 (Link to this contribution) The Minister opened by saying that she doubts whether any Members’ views have been changed by the de...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c935 (Link to this contribution) I can say to my hon. Friend that Members have raised concerns about that on a number of occasions, b...
Jim Cousins | 460 c935 (Link to this contribution) Have the Government had representations from any quarter—from the data protection authorities, the I...
Mark Fisher | 460 c936 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way. Will she concede that the Bill is not confined so...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c936 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right, but of course, the exemption in the Bill is a qualified one. The Bill does ...
Evan Harris | 460 c935 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has explained that the Government are neutral, and I do not doubt her own sincerity—she...
Fraser Kemp | 460 c935 (Link to this contribution) I have dealt with a sensitive immigration case involving freedom of information and, in the end, the...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c936 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point, and similar examples have been referred to earlier. It is for Mem...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c943 (Link to this contribution) rose in his place and claimed to move, That the Question be now put. Question put, that the Questio...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c942-3 (Link to this contribution) I believe that I was discussing the contents of the Bill, Mr. Deputy Speaker, because I was talking ...
Speaker | 460 c942 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are discussing the contents of the Bill now.
Speaker | 460 c945 (Link to this contribution) That is not a point of order for the Chair, as the hon. Gentleman well knows.
Simon Hughes | 460 c945 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Is there any way of formally recording in the Official Repo...
David Winnick | 460 c938-9 (Link to this contribution) I find it difficult to believe that the occupants of the Front Benches are neutral. I can only come ...
Jonathan Djanogly | 460 c938 (Link to this contribution) No, I intend to conclude my remarks as so many hon. Members wish to speak. My party’s position on t...
David Winnick | 460 c940 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree. I take the view that as Labour Members we should be proud to support a Labour Go...
Julia Goldsworthy | 460 c939 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is a question not just of the expenses of individual MPs, but ...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c940-2 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick); at that very moment, I was berating...
Richard Shepherd | 460 c942 (Link to this contribution) I have not quite finished. It is the hon. Gentleman—this friend of Whips; this currier of favour—[In...
Andrew Dismore | 460 c942 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Richard Shepherd | 460 c942 (Link to this contribution) As I have referred to the hon. Gentleman, I can hardly do otherwise.
Andrew Dismore | 460 c942 (Link to this contribution) I disagree with the hon. Gentleman on the Bill. On the procedural motions that I moved, I simply say...
Simon Hughes | 460 c931 (Link to this contribution) There is no disagreement between us. I have just written to my local authority’s chief executive wit...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c931 (Link to this contribution) That is the point that I am making. Why should Members of Parliament have to pull their punches, ano...
Simon Hughes | 460 c931-3 (Link to this contribution) It is. Colleagues here who represent Wales and Scotland understand that we are in danger of further...
Norman Baker | 460 c931 (Link to this contribution) The case that the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (David Maclean) seems to be putting i...
Norman Baker | 460 c933 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for the terrible cliché, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it? If the system is supposed to...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c933 (Link to this contribution) This has been a fascinating debate, although I doubt that many minds have been changed today—or, ind...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c934 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that that question should be directed at me. I am simply saying that a Labour Governme...
Simon Hughes | 460 c930 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath)...
Hywel Williams | 460 c930 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be aware that there is a demand in Wales and Scotland for greater powers for...
Simon Hughes | 460 c930-1 (Link to this contribution) That is a concern. There are some other good examples of why we should not change the system. The Ir...
Speaker | 460 c891 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is clearly a mind reader. I was about to ask the Serjeant to investigate th...
Norman Baker | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) I am not familiar with the details of that case, but the data protection legislation already prevent...
Speaker | 460 c888 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman is aware that interventions should be brief. The hon. Member for Lewes has...
Norman Baker | 460 c886 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. The suggestion by the hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) is like suggesting that if...
Mark Fisher | 460 c924 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to do that, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I am just trying to emphasise the point that the Bill wi...
Mark Fisher | 460 c921 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border is addressing t...
Mark Fisher | 460 c920 (Link to this contribution) May I just respond to the point, because it think that it would be courteous to the right hon. Gentl...
Lord Beamish | 460 c919 (Link to this contribution) May I point out to my hon. Friend that if he cared to read the proceedings of the Public Bill Commit...
Lord Blencathra | 460 c916 (Link to this contribution) Once again, I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for pointing out what the Liberal Democrat represent...
Speaker | 460 c889 (Link to this contribution) Order. Once again I remind Members that interventions are to be brief.
Simon Hughes | 460 c928 (Link to this contribution) That is the other inconsistency in the argument of the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border....
Lord Blencathra | 460 c920 (Link to this contribution) Would the hon. Gentleman care to tell me how much debate took place before the 2000 Act was passed o...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c896 (Link to this contribution) If I may say so gently to the hon. Gentleman, for a Liberal Democrat to talk about people being self...
Bridget Prentice | 460 c935 (Link to this contribution) The Government are neutral on this particular Bill and its contents. We keep all such matters under ...
Speaker | 460 c943 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Sergeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the No Lobby.
Mark Fisher | 460 c919 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that it has, but I am sure that the hon. Lady will make these points in more detail l...

Subjects

Freedom of information
House of Lords
House of Commons
Exemptions
Members

Legislation

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2006-07

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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