Open Government (Hansard, 29 November 1994)

§ Mr. Ian Taylor

[holding answer 22 November 1994]: In line with guidance on charging policy produced by the Office of Public Services and Science, which recognised the diversity of cost and operational structure across the range of bodies implementing the code, my Department has developed the following scheme of charges for information under the code of practice on access to government information. The Department has always provided much information free of charge. When requests for information under the code can be dealt with simply and quickly the Department makes no charge. Only when a significant diversion of resource is required will a charge be made in line with the amount of work involved in extracting and preparing the information to answer the request.

Charges are based on a two-tier composite hourly rate according to the grade of person performing the work. For SEO and below the rate is £14 per hour, and for grade 7 and above the rate is £34 per hour. There is no charge if the information can be supplied for a forecast amount of less than £100. If the estimated amount is more than £1,000 the charge will be calculated on a grade-by-grade basis of the average pay cost for that grade together with direct costs such as photocopying.

I have asked each of the agency chief executives to write to the hon. Member about their schemes of charges.

Letter from Mike Hoddinott to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994: Your recent Parliamentary Question to the President of the Board of Trade asked for a statement on charging policy in respect of inquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government. Each agency chief executive has been asked to reply. The charging policy of Accounts Services Agency follows that for the Department.

Letter from David Durham to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994: You recently tabled the following Parliamentary Question to which I have been asked to respond direct to you as Chief Executive of Companies House Executive Agency. To ask the President of the Board of Trade, if he will make a statement on the charging policy of his Department and the agencies for which he is responsible in respect of inquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government. Companies House is a public registry, and most information on companies is charged for under Companies Act powers, based on the full economic cost of providing it. Where requests are received involving the Code, our policy is to make a flat charge of £5 to cover administrative cost. If the work involved in satisfying the request is likely to take more than half a 572W day of staff time, our policy is to give a quote for the full cost and obtain agreement to this before undertaking the work. To date, no requests involving the Code have been received.

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994: You asked the President of the Board of Trade to make a statement on the charging policy of his Department and the agencies for which he is responsible in respect of inquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. I am replying on behalf of The Insolvency Service. The Service has developed its charging policy in accordance with guidance produced by the Office of Public Services and Science. To cover the costs of dealing with applications, there is a standard minimum charge of £20 for each access request under the Code. Where dealing with a request would involve considerable expenditure of resources and the estimated costs of supplying the information would exceed £100, an additional charge will be made based on the hourly rates of the grades carrying out the work. For insolvency specialist grades, these hourly rates are set out in the Insolvency Regulations 1994 and begin at £26 an hour for an examiner grade, rising to £49 an hour for an official receiver. The Service will however advise applicants where the information sought is already provided in the normal course of its activities without charge or is known to be available free of charge elsewhere, so that the applicant will not incur costs unnecessarily through the formal operation of the Code. The Service also publishes information guides for the public which are available free of charge.

Letter from R. D. Worswick to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994: Mr. Taylor's answer to your Parliamentary Question on the charging policy of the Department of Trade and Industry and its Agencies in respect of enquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government indicated that Chief Executives of Agencies would write to you. In the case of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, we are following the Department's charging policy, as described in Mr. Taylor's response. Since the introduction of the Code in April 1994 we have adopted the two tier composite hourly charging regime at the rates determined by DTI as a whole: £14 for a senior scientific officer (equivalent to a senior executive officer) or below; and £34 for Grade 7 and above. As for the Department, there is no charge if the information can be supplied for a forecast amount of less than £100; and if the estimated amount is more than £1000 the charge will be calculated on a grade by grade basis of the average pay cost for that grade (or equivalent) together with any direct costs.

Letter from W. Edgar to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994: I would refer to your question to the President of the Board of Trade in respect of the charging policy for enquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government. As an Executive Agency of the DTI involved in the supply of technology services to the public and private sector our charges are dictated by the market place for our services and the level of the competition which we face. We operate in competition with both the public and private sectors for the majority of our services and therefore all of our charging is market driven.

Letter from Peter Clapham to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994: I am writing in response to your question to the President of the Board of Trade regarding the charging policy of the DTI and its Agencies in respect of inquiries under the Code of Practice to Access to Government Information. The National Physical Laboratory makes no charge for providing small quantities of information which are readily available. Where a significant amount of effort is involved, the full economic cost of the work is charged. I hope this provides the information you require.

573W

Letter from Jon Cowdock to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994:

Charges .for information supplied under the Code of Practice on Open Government I have been asked to reply, in the absence of the Agency's Chief Executive, on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your question concerning charges for open government. The National Weights and Measures Laboratory applies the same charging policy as DTI. Details of that policy are set out in the reply given by Mr Taylor on 22 November.

Letter from P.R.S. Hartnack to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994:

Code of Practice on Access to Government Information You asked the President of the Board of Trade to make a statement on charging policy for inquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. I have been asked to reply in relation to the Patent Office. The Patent Office provides a great deal of information to the public. This includes explanatory literature, which is free; publications for sale at various prices; information supplied in accordance with statutory requirements and on payment of the relevant fee; and consultancy services, for which charges are made on the basis of database access, document supply and hourly rates. None of these activities is affected by the Code of Practice. In line with guidance on charging policy produced by the Office of Public Services and Science, which recognised the diversity of cost and operational structure across the range of bodies implementing the Code, the Patent Office has adopted the following scheme of charges. Where an inquirer can be directed to a published document, or free literature is available, there will be no charge. Inquiries requiring further work will be charged according to hourly rates based on the average pay costs of the grades involved, together with any direct costs incurred. However, where the total cost is less than £30, no charge will be made.

Letter from Jim Norton to Mr. Jeff Rooker, dated 29 November 1994:

Code of Practice on Access to Government Information—Charging Policy The President of the Board of Trade has asked Chief Executive of DTI Agencies to reply direct to your parliamentary question about our charging policy in respect of enquiries under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. I am replying in respect of the Radiocommunications Agency of the DTI. As a net running cost Agency we are wholly funded by licence fees and other charges paid by our customers. Because of this funding regime we have adopted a slightly different charging policy to that of our parent department. We have set a basic "registration" fee of £15 (this is equivalent to the minimum licence fee we charge and will be linked to that level in future) for all requests for information invoked under the Code, ie outside our existing information flow procedures. This registration fee would cover all cases costing up to £100 to deal with. However, for more detailed cases when estimated costs of providing the information exceed the £100 level, we will use the Departmental composite hourly rates—but the initial £15 fee would be used as a deposit, deductible against any higher charge imposed. For cases estimated to cost over £1,000 we will also follow DTI central policy.