§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's target time is for completing internal reviews under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; when this target time was established; if he is aiming to improve this target time; and if he will make a statement. [53357]
§ Mr. MacShaneThe FCO's target time for completing internal reviews under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information is 20 working days. This target was established in 1997 and is in line with practice in other Government Departments. I have no present plans to deploy extra FCO staff and resources which are needed elsewhere to reduce this target time which I consider reasonable. Information on the FCO's response to requests and reviews under the code of practice is given in the monitoring report published by the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) in September 2001, available on their website or from them direct.