HL Deb 23 October 2002 vol 639 cc102-3WA
Lord Christopher

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have reached a decision on the date on which Section 77 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will be brought into force. [HL6090]

The Lord Chancellor

The Government have considered very carefully the arguments put forward for the early implementation of this section, which makes it an offence for a person to destroy or alter a record requested under either the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Data Protection Act 1998. The Government have decided to retain the original date for implementation of this section—1 January 2005.

The reason for this decision is that the policy intention behind the creation of the offence was that greater deterrence was needed to prevent the destruction of paper records, to which the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act will apply from 1 January 2005, than was needed for computerised or structured records, to which the Data Protection Act currently applies. It is far easier to conceal the destruction of paper records than of computerised records as in the latter case an audit trail is available. There is no evidence to suggest that the existing provisions in the Data Protection Act are defective in preventing the wrongful destruction of records. The Government do not believe that it would be right to create a new offence where there is no mischief to be addressed. Accordingly, the Government have decided to retain the 1 January 2005 implementation date for Section 77.