Local Government (Access to Information) (Hansard, 26 June 1984)

§ Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey)
I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to extend the public's right to attend meetings of committees and sub-committees of local authorities; to establish a public right of access to information held by local authorities including memoranda, reports and research data, and minutes of decisions taken and recommendations made by committees and sub-committees and delegated individuals; to require local authorities to inform the public of their rights; and for related purposes. Since 1960 it has been the view of the House, and the majority of the people whom we represent, that local and central Government should be carried on in public and not in private. There has been a perpetual battle to ensure that that basic principle of democracy is adhered to once people are elected to office. This afternoon I seek, with the support of the hon. Members for Bootle, (Mr. Roberts) and for Hornchurch (Mr. Squire), on behalf of the three largest political groupings in the House, and the support of right hon. and hon. Members of all parties, to expand much further the right of the public to know what is done in their name by people elected to do jobs for them in town halls.
In 1960, the present Prime Minister introduced and promoted in the House the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Bill. She said: publicity stimulates the interests of local persons in local government. This is also very important."—[Official Report, 5 February 1960; Vol. 616, c. 1351.] Later she said: It is clear that when the public as of right attend meetings of authorities they may well not understand what is going on unless they are supplied with documents which make clear the subject matter under discussion."—[Official Report, 13 May 1960; Vol. 623, c. 774.] The Bill was passed in 1960.
In 1972, a further step was taken, opening up even more local government processes to public scrutiny in the practical ways that are important—for example, when someone finds that land opposite where he lives is subject to a planning inquiry or application, or wants to know why the school down the road is being closed, and how the economic arguments led the local authority to make that decision. Hundreds of decisions made day by day and week by week throughout the land were opened up to public scrutiny.
Today, although it is fairly late in the Session, I introduce a Bill, if the House will permit it, in order to take a third step towards opening up local government. We want first to make sure that sub-committees as well as meetings of the full council are open to the public. It is a fact, regretted by many, that since local authorities were obliged to open up their full business to local people or any other interested parties, more and more decisions have been taken in sub-committees or by small groups of delegated councillors behind locked doors. Subcommittees as well as whole committees and the whole council should be open to the public so that they can hear the debate and understand what decisions are taken in their name.
If the public are to participate in that process and influence it, they will also need to be able to see beforehand the documents produced to enable those 811 decisions to be made. As long as members of the public pay a reasonable fee and ask at a reasonable time, they should be able to obtain copies of relevant documents. If a member of the public is not able to attend a meeting, or if he is alerted afterwards to a decision that has been made, he should be able at that stage to obtain the information.
There are occasions when the privacy of the individual or the particular confidentiality of the item under discussion is a good reason for a matter not to be opened there and then to public debate. [Interruption.] We have set out a schedule of very limited exempted categories. We intend that in future the presumption will be that people will be able to attend unless the matter falls into one of the categories in the schedule.

§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
There is the answer.

§ Mr. Hughes
No, it is not the answer. People will not be able to say that something is an exception unless they clearly state, at the meeting or in the documents, why that is so. That decision will be susceptible to challenge in the courts.
A few years ago a change was made so that when one applied for bail and was refused one was told the reason so that one could challenge the decision. That was a useful change in procedure. [Interruption]. There has never been a similar presumption in local government, and we believe that it is time that there was.
The Bill will seek to ensure that local authorities must give the public on demand, to see and take away, a list of all those elected in their name, with their addresses and the places where they can be contacted. More importantly, the Bill will also give people a right to be given a list of their rights to access to information in local government.

§ Mr. Skinner
And of who finances the Liberal party.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman has had a fair run today. He must not intervene from a sedentary position.

§ Mr. Hughes
We look forward to the day when the Bolsover council will support the Bill, which I hope that the hon. Gentleman will encourage.
The Bill has already been supported by many eminent organisations such as the Town and Country Planning Association, the National Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses, the British Safety Council, the Guild of British Newspaper Editors, and the National Housewives Association. It is also supported by local bodies such as the Southwark Chamber of Commerce, the Chiltern Society, the Gateshead law centre, the Ford and Pennywell advice centre in Sunderland, the Hartlepool housing aid unit, Plymouth youth aid, the Anglican diocese of Birmingham and the Bangladeshi women and children's welfare project.
The Bill has already been supported by parish councils throughout the country. They have not just supported the Bill—they have supported it in fulsome words.
When Horton parish council wrote——

§ Mr. Skinner
Has the right hon. Gentleman just come back from a health farm?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I cannot have this argument on the Front Bench below the Gangway when a ten-minute Bill is being moved.

§ Mr. Hughes
Horton parish council was asked whether it would support the Bill. It replied: The feeling at the meeting was so positive that a simple letter saying that we support your effort hardly seems enough but no doubt you will let us know if there is any more that we can do. Wadebridge town council said: Thank you for your letter, this was put on the agenda for the June meeting and after a full discussion the Town Council agreed fully to support this project. Parish councils have been among those who are leading the way, telling the House that the Bill must be passed speedily into law. District and county councils of all political colours have begun to enact the Bill's provisions because of the pressure that it has brought to bear. I pay special tribute to Bradford, which has taken the lead and incorporated the Bill in its standing orders. The London boroughs of Hackney, Lewisham and Islington, the city councils of Bristol and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the county councils of Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire and Derbyshire, Yeovil, Northampton and Harlow district councils and the Association of Metropolitan Authorities have said that they support the Bill and hope that it becomes law soon.
We want the Bill because there are some amazing examples of local authorities not understanding in whose name they do their job. When asked whether it would support the Bill, Sefton replied: I regret that severe restrictions on our staff do not now permit us to respond to questionnaires of this nature. The Isle of Anglesey borough council, when asked what issues it did not allow to be disclosed, gave the simple answer, "Controversial issues." Northavon district council said that it would refuse to produce the documents because Should you require any such details relating to Northavon District Council I would certainly want to know a little more about your Company and the people who have expressed such concern". Many people do not yet understand the meaning of access to information. The Community Rights Project has brought the Bill to the House as part of the 1984 freedom of information campaign. I hope that Ministers who have supported freedom of information for the past 24 years will support the Bill and ensure that, by the end of the year, town hall discussions are open to the public—just as they were intended to be.