§ 36. Mr. WicksTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what criteria are applied in decisions on whether to make departmental policy papers available to the public.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMinisters and their Departments have a duty to give Parliament and the public as full information as possible about the policies, decisions and actions of government, within necessary constraints such as considerations of national security, protection of privacy and confidentiality of advice given by civil servants to Ministers.
§ Mr. WicksGiven the Government's alleged commitment to open government and freedom of information, and given that national security implications are not involved, will the Minister arrange for the publication of the review contained in the public expenditure departmental papers? If he is able to do that, will he also arrange for me to pop round and look at some of the papers this afternoon?
§ Mr. WaldegraveNo. Discussions within government leading to public expenditure decisions should be—and would be, under any freedom-of-information regime in the world—private to government until those decisions are made.