§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs has today laid before Parliament, in accordance with Section 45(5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, a revised code of practice on the discharge of public authorities' functions under Part 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This code of practice has been revised after close consultation with the Information Commissioner's Office.
The previous Section 45 code of practice was issued in November 2002, and quite rightly incorporated a great deal of best practice information. This information is now contained in the suite of guidance recently issued by the DCA, and in the series of awareness guides issued by the Information Commissioner's Office. This revised code of practice relates to those areas specified by Section 45(2)(a) to (e). It provides clear guidance on providing advice and assistance to applicants, transferring requests to other authorities, consulting third parties, the use of confidentiality clauses relating to information disclosure in contracts and the provision of internal complaints procedures in public authorities.
I will keep the Section 45 code of practice under review once the Freedom of Information Act has been fully implemented, and shall work closely with the Information Commissioner to identify those areas where any further guidance is necessary.