§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will consult the public before making fees regulations under Sections 9, 12 and 13 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [HL1494]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin)The Government are presently engaging in consultation on the fees regulations through a government working group. We published a draft set of fees regulations in 2000. The working group is considering the underlying policy on the fees regime with a view to revising and expanding on the draft regulations. Departmental representatives on the cross Whitehall Freedom of Information Practitioners' Group will seek out and represent the views of those to be affected by the fees regime. In addition, it is the role, at least in part, of the independent members of the working group to represent the views of those using the FoI Act from outside the public sector. A copy of the draft regulations is available on my department's website and anyone is invited to provide comments on the fees regime to my department. The Government will take into account all comments received in reaching a final decision on the regulations. The regulations will be laid before Parliament, where they are subject to the negative resolution procedure, in time for coming into force on 1 January 2005.