§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what date she expects increased access to environmental information will be available under the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and which(a) minister and (b) official in her Department has lead responsibility for this matter [79029]
§ Mr. MeacherI have just completed public consultation on draft Environmental Information Regulations. Officials are now analysing the comments received. Before preparing a Statutory Instrument of the Regulations to place before Parliament we will also need to take into account developments in Brussels on the negotiations for a Draft Directive on Public Access to Environmental Information. The Regulations will not come into force until 2003 at the earliest.
In answer to the specific questions, I can confirm that (a) I am the lead Minister and (b) the lead policy Division is Defra Sustainable Development Unit who can be contacted via the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/pubaccess/index.htm