§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, as reported by the Sunday Times (26 September), many confidential files are being shredded by government departments and police authorities in preparation for the coming into force of the Freedom of Information Act in January 2005; and, if so, whether, and for what reasons, they have authorised this conduct. [HL4389]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)The Government remain fully committed to freedom of information. We successfully introduced legislation making access to information a matter of right for the public and are implementing this legislation fully 11 months earlier than we are obliged to under the Act.
Effective records management involves the appropriate destruction of outdated records. No public authorities are being instructed to delete records or information that is of present use or worthy of permanent preservation in order to avoid providing access to the information from 1 January 2005, and the Government would not expect that records would be deleted for this purpose.