§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their timetable for the publication of guidance by the Department for Constitutional Affairs on the exemptions from the right of access and on procedural matters under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [HL1492]
49WA
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin)On 1 March 2004, my department issued eight draft exemption guidance chapters to the freedom of information practitioners' group. The representatives on the group are from Whitehall bodies.
As soon as chapters of guidance have been cleared by the practitioners' group, they will be made available on the department's website, www.dca.gov.uk, so that practitioners within government and in the wider public sector can see the broad thrust of advice before publication.
Work on the remaining guidance chapters is continuing and the department aims to issue the complete set of guidance in final edited format by September 2004. Copies of the guidance will be made available in the Libraries of both Houses at that time.