APPENDIX 1
Extract from a letter from The Rt Hon The Lord Irvine
of Lairg, QC, to the Clerk of the Committee
It appears that I may have given a false impression about
how an FOI Act might apply to judicial appointments; I apologise
to the Committee if this was the case. I said that information
about individual candidates for, or holders of, judicial office
will not be subject to disclosure under the Act on the grounds
of information given in confidence. In fact they will be excluded
under the Act. In my letter to Rhodri Morgan of 26 January, I
wrote:
"the White Paper makes it clear that the Act will not
cover access to the personnel records of pubic authorities and
that this also applies to records held for recruitment and appointments
(paragraph 2.20). Consultations and undertaken for the purposes
of senior judicial appointments clearly fall into this category,
and I am sure this is right."
The important distinction I draw, and which is not apparent
from the transcript (and, perhaps, which I did not clear at the
time), is between the information on candidates and holders of
judicial office - which would be excluded under the Act - and
information about the general process by which they are
appointed. The latter would be covered by the Act in the same
way as other material, subject only (if relevant) to the substantial
harm test.
12 March 1998
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