§ Mr. Norman Baker (Lewes)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I ask for your guidance, and I draw to the attention of the House what I believe to be the unreasonable withholding of information by the Government and contradictory parliamentary answers given in the Official Report.
Last week, I asked each Department for the numbers and percentages of documents passed to the Public Record Office in 1996. Some Departments replied that producing the information would incur "disproportionate cost". Other Departments, however, produced the information. The wording used in the questions—about what happened in particular cases and to particular documents—was identical to the form of question used by my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Mr. Fearn) in the Official Report of 2 July 1990, at column 426. At the time, the Department of Trade and Industry answered each question to within one decimal point; yet the same Department—in the form, this time, of the Minister responsible for consumer affairs—tells us seven years later that to collect the information would incur disproportionate cost.
With the Government not pursuing a freedom of information Bill, many Members of the House are concerned about the withholding of information—and such contradictory answers merely serve to underline their concern. Can you, Madam Speaker, help the House by ensuring that information that is properly requested is provided?
Madam SpeakerI have no responsibility for ministerial answers. I advise the hon. Gentleman, in his own best interests, to pursue the point with the Minister concerned.