Information (Hansard, 19 June 1975)

§ 9. Mr. Aitken
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to introduce a Freedom of Information Bill.

§ Mr. Roy Jenkins
The Government are considering, in the light of the Franks Report and other considerations, the law and practice on both the protection and disclosure of official information. I have no firm statement to make at present, but I hope to legislate in the course of the next Session.

§ Mr. Aitken
Is the Home Secretary aware that the latest episode of the Crossman Diaries saga illustrates how urgently necessary it is for him to introduce legislation to establish the fundamental principle of the public's right to know and to put an end to this long-running Whitehall farce of excessive secrecy? Does the Home Secretary realise that there is something ludicrous in the spectacle of the Government trying to clamp down the door of official secrecy on the book version of the Crossman Diaries—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Member must not raise that issue. It is sub judice.

§ Mr. Aitken
As the Attorney-General's decisions in this matter have been political, surely it is in order to raise the matter on the Floor of the House of Commons?

§ Mr. Speaker
No. In referring to shutting the door on book publication the hon. Member is clearly referring to a matter which is now before a court of law, and I cannot allow any reference to it in the House.

§ Mr. Hugh Fraser
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. If we are to have a point of order about this matter it would be better to have it at the end of Question Time.

§ Mr. Aitken
I shall rephrase my question. In the light of the discrepancy between the Government's attitude to newspaper publication and their attitude to book publication, is it not time that they clarified this matter by introducing a Freedom of Information Bill?

§ Mr. Jenkins
I had better be careful not to run foul of your ruling, Mr. Speaker. I have expressed previously my view that, while I am unconvinced of the need for a Freedom of Information Act along the American lines, because I do not think that it would be wholly suitable in the British context, I am anxious to promote the liberalisation of the law relating to official secrets generally. I do not wish to touch upon the particular matter which the hon. Gentleman has raised, which is sub judice. The basis of my thinking continues to be that the criminal law should be kept out of this area so far as is possible.

Mr. Heller
May we take it from my right hon. Friend's answer that he is to pursue the policy that he outlined in his Guildhall speech on 10th March, when it made it absolutely clear that Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act should be repealed and that other measures should be brought in, which means that the Government will have to be responsible for proving their attitude in relation to secrecy? Although I do not in any way tread on the dangerous ground which the hon. Member for Thanet, East (Mr. Aitken) has raised, nevertheless, there is a contradiction in the present situation.

§ Mr. Jenkins
I do not think that there is such a direct contradiction. I can assure my hon. Friend that as far as I am aware, and as far as I can recollect everything that I said at the Guildhall in March, I have not changed my mind in any point of substance since then. I believe it is desirable that we should introduce legislation which goes beyond the proposals of the Franks Report.

§ Mr. Hugh Fraser
Both Front Benches have endlessly promised to do something about information for the public, and both have totally failed. Therefore, would it not be an excellent idea to pursue the course that the Government pursued in the Hare Coursing Bill, namely, to appoint a committee of backbenchers consisting of the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Helfer), my hon. Friend the Member for Thanet, East (Mr. Aitken) and myself to produce a Bill which would not be overborne by overpaid top civil servants, but adopted by the Government of the day and made law?

§ Mr. Jenkins
This gives me a new viewpoint of the provenance of the Hare Coursing Bill of which I was not previously aware.