Protection of Freedoms Bill

Insert the following new Clause—

“Freedom of information and contracts

(1) Any contract for any sum over £1 million made by a public authority with any person after the coming into force of this section shall be deemed to include a freedom of information provision.

(2) Where such a contract is to any extent performed by means of a sub-contract, that sub-contract shall be deemed to include a freedom of information provision.

(3) In this section a “freedom of information provision” means a provision stipulating that all information relating to the performance of the contract which is held by—

(a) the contractor,

(b) a sub-contractor, and

(c) any other person on behalf of the contractor or sub-contractor,

is, notwithstanding any contrary provision, deemed to be held on behalf of the relevant authority for the purpose of section 3(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or regulation 3(2)(b) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Annual report on compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 etc

(1) A public authority shall publish an annual report on its compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which shall include information about—

(a) the number of requests which it has received, its responses to them and the timeliness of those responses;

(b) any fees or charges made in connection with those requests;

(c) the number of complaints about its handling of requests which it has received, the outcomes of those complaints and the time it has taken to deal with them;

(d) the number of complaints made to the Information Commissioner in respect of the authority and the outcome of those complaints.

(2) The Secretary of State may by regulations prescribe—

(a) further particulars that are to be contained in the annual report required under this section, and

(b) the form in which the information contained in the annual report required under this section is to be presented.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Publicly owned companies

(1) The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is amended as follows.

(2) In section 6(1)(b), at end insert—

“(c) at least fifty per cent of its shares are owned by one or more relevant authorities.”

(3) In section 6(3), at end insert—

““relevant authority” has the same meaning as in section 14(4) of the Localism Act 2011.””