HC Deb 28 March 1994 vol 240 cc632-3
33. Mr. Alan Howarth

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make an annual report to Parliament on the operation of the code of practice on Government information due to come into operation on 4 April.

Mr. Waldegrave

Yes.

Mr. Howarth

Does my right hon. Friend accept that his reply will be extensively welcomed, but is he yet in a position to say what the scope of his report will be? Will it, for example, include an account of the progress of the revised security classification system announced last week and the extent of his success in ensuring that only those documents are restricted that genuinely need to be so classified?

Mr. Waldegrave

I had thought that the essential report would be one that gave an account of requests under the code, applications to the ombudsman and so on, but I will consider with care why my hon. Friend said.

Mr. Gunnell

Does that mean that on 4 April the permanent secretaries' handbook will be placed in the Library so that hon. Members can read the advice given to the permanent secretaries on their behaviour? Can the right hon. Gentleman assure us that the whole of the permanent secretaries' handbook has been passed to Lord Justice Scott for his consideration?

Mr. Waldegrave

All the papers for which Sir Richard Scott has asked have been passed to him. The code of practice, which comes into play on 4 April, will mean a major freeing of public information. The Campaign for Freedom of Information which, of course, wants to go further, described the new role for the ombudsman as "a valuable step forward".