HL Deb 07 June 2004 vol 662 cc4-6

2.45 p.m.

Lord McNally asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether preparations for the implementation in 2005 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will include provision for a fee structure for access to government information; and what the level of fees will be.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin)

Yes, my Lords, the Government will bring forward fees regulations under the Act in good time for their coming into effect in January 2005. We have published draft regulations, and we will be bringing forward to Parliament a final version by October.

Lord McNally

My Lords, does the Minister agree that a fee structure that charged exorbitant fees for freedom of information would in fact be the freedom to dine at the Ritz? Does he not grow more concerned every day about how far we have moved from those heady days when the noble Lord, Lord Clark of Windermere, brought forward his wonderful White Paper which cost him his job in the Cabinet? There was a commitment to freedom of information and to removing the culture of secrecy from Whitehall, in contrast to the position today when the culture of secrecy is firmly embedded in the Government.

Lord Filkin

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord on his first point. A fee structure that acted in any way as a significant deterrent to people making use of their rights under the Act would go against the spirit and purpose of the Act. As for dining at the Ritz, I do not know whether that was an invitation, but I shall consult the Ministerial Code about it. As for the thrust of the noble Lord's question and the possibility that he has inferred from, I think, a wholly erroneous report in the Guardian that the Government are in some way negative or ambiguous about the importance of freedom of information in strengthening democratic participation, he is wrong. We will demonstrate that as the Act is implemented.

Lord Henley

My Lords, has the Minister made any estimates on behalf of the Government as to how many new civil servant jobs will be required for this?

Lord Filkin

My Lords, the best answer would be to make it quite clear that the Treasury says that no additional money will be made available to departments as part of fulfilling their obligations under freedom of information. The noble Lord can draw his own conclusion from that answer.

Lord McNally

My Lords, on that commitment to freedom of information, when I sat on the Select Committee that looked into freedom of information we took evidence from Canada and Ireland which was very strongly in favour of training civil servants in the run-up to implementation of the Act. What training programmes are the Government currently implementing?

Lord Filkin

My Lords, I cannot do justice to the scale of that question now, but I would be genuinely happy to have a discussion with the noble Lord to talk about it in more detail. In short, we are reviewing the matter with all government departments. I have had face-to-face discussions with every department about its implementation plans, and part of the review mechanism of course includes their training plans to ensure that all civil servants are properly trained. There is a judgment to be made about how soon one does that. One has to ensure at this point that there is general awareness, while delivering the high-pressure training nearer to the deadline date.

Lord Henley

My Lords, in response to the question I asked, can the Government therefore confirm that the costs will be borne entirely by those making inquiries under the Act? Therefore, perhaps the noble Lord, Lord McNally, was right in suggesting that this may be a case of dining at the Ritz.

Lord Filkin

No, my Lords, neither suggestion is correct. The Government's position has always been as it was at the point of the Bill's passage: we shall see that the cost of handling information requests is borne substantially by public sector bodies, as is right and proper. How the conundrum is squared between that and the Treasury position is not difficult; a normal part of officials' responsibilities is to respond to requests from the public for information. The only caveat is, and has always been, the cap on the amount of time and effort that we will put into very obscure or complex requests, as was made clear when the Bill was passed.

Forward to