Parliamentary update

Highlights of some recent PQs and debates that are relevant to FOI:

16 January 2006
Lynne Featherstone (Hornsey & Wood Green, LDem) Hansard source
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to the national DNA database (a) he has received and (b) have been successful; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Clarke (Home Secretary) Hansard source
holding answer 6 December 2006
The Home Office has received one request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 concerning the national DMA database. In responding to the request; information was released setting out who was operating the national DMA database, additional funding budget, and the number of suspect offender profiles stored. It also set out the powers that the police were given under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to take, without consent, a non-intimate DMA sample. However, further information on how policy officials determined the guidelines on how a national DMA database would operate was withheld under Section 35(1 )(a) of the Freedom of information Act 2000 as it would stifle future debate and damage the quality of advice provided.

12 January 2006
Business of the House

David Heath
Finally, may we have a debate on the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000? The Prime Minister was reported to have said over Christmas that that legislation was the worst thing that the Government have done. Does the Leader of the House agree with that assessment, or does he believe instead that it was a very important Act that should not be subverted, either by new charging systems or further restrictions on the application of information—or is that something that he cannot tell me?

Geoff Hoone
I am very pleased with reports of the success of the freedom of information legislation, which gives people opportunities to secure information in a way that was not possible previously. I am only slightly disappointed that the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome did not congratulate the Government on their efforts in that respect

13 Decemeber 2005

Peter Soulsby (Leicester South, Lab) Hansard source
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the response of local authorities to applications under the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if she will make a statement

Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs) Hansard source
My Department does not formally monitor local authorities' performance in responding to applications under the Freedom of Information Act, to avoid imposing an administrative burden. However, the impression from independent surveys is that under the Freedom of Information Act the public are accessing a huge amount of new information.

12 December 2005
Peter Law (Blaenau Gwent, Ind) Hansard source
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources made available to the Information Commissioner to carry out his responsibilities; and what discussions she has had with the Information Commissioner on ways to speed up the processing of Freedom of Information Act appeals made to his office.

Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs) Hansard source
The Secretary of State is in regular dialogue with the Information Commissioner about his responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act. The Information Commissioner has analysed his current workload and concluded that the high volume of appeals that he is processing at present are a result of the initial influx of requests that public authorities experienced in the first few months of FOI implementation

28 November 2005
Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Con) Hansard source
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 13 October 2005, Official Report, column 593W, on the Freedom of Information Act, what guidance has been produced on the status of non-judicial inquiries not established under the Inquiries Act 2005 as public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs) Hansard source

My Department has not produced specific guidance on the status of non-judicial inquiries not established under the Inquiries Act as public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

My Department has produced general guidance on coverage of the Act, which is publicly available on our website. It is not possible to produce specific guidance on the coverage of non-judicial inquiries not established under the Inquiries Act as they will be established in a number of different ways.

It is possible that most non-judicial inquiries will not be public authorities or part of other public authorities and so not covered by the Act. However, once an inquiry has been completed, its records are generally held by a public authority, such as a Government Department or the National Archives and become subject to the Act.

28 November 2005
Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South, LDem) Hansard source
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2005, Official Report, column 6W, what the (a) statutory and (b) other basis is for the 100-year census closure policy.

Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs) Hansard source
Requests to view information contained in the 1911 census returns are considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. So far it has not been possible to grant any requests received because they have all been covered by the S.41 exemption relating to breach of confidence.

The Government believe that a closure period of 100 years strikes the correct balance between the right of citizens to have information about themselves kept confidential and the rights of family historians and other researchers to have access to that information.

Since 1981 explicit assurances have been given on census forms that the returns will be kept confidential for 100 years. Opening the 1911 census before 100 years have elapsed could undermine public confidence in those assurances.

23 November 2005
Norman Baker (Lewes, LDem) Hansard source
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many contracts were signed by her Department in (a) 2005–06 to date and (b) 2004–05 for direct mail; and what the value was in each case.

Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs) Hansard source

My Department commissioned the following direct mailings detailed as follows. Information about newsletters is not held centrally; to collate that information would be disproportionate to cost.

Leaflets and posters sent to FOI Officers in public authorities, solicitors, Advice Centres, Jobcentres, GP surgeries etc. to raise awareness among staff of new responsibilities as a result of introduction of Freedom of Information Act £86,628.51

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These are some of the selected highlights, read more at the (great!) website: They Work for You.com