Amendments proposed to the Freedom of Information Bill - continued	House of Commons
back to previous text

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

156

Clause     43,     page     23,     line     27,     at end add ', and shall publish any representations made to him by the Commissioner.'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

146

Page     22,     line     39,     leave out Clause 43.

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Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

157

Clause     44,     page     23,     line     45,     leave out 'and' and insert—

'(dd) the circumstances in which it is not appropriate for a public authority to accept information from another person in confidence, and'.

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

165

Clause     44,     page     24,     line     2,     at end insert ', and

(f) the giving of notice of the rights of complaint under this Act to persons who have made requests for information'.

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

166

Clause     44,     page     24,     line     2,     at end insert ', and

(f) the collection and publication of statistics by public authorities concerning requests under this Act with which they have not complied'.

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

72

Clause     44,     page     24,     line     5,     at end insert 'and any other relevant person.'.

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Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

73

Clause     45,     page     24,     line     31,     leave out 'and'.

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

74

Clause     45,     page     24,     line     33,     at end insert ', and

(d) any other relevant person.'.

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Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

167

Clause     46,     page     25,     line     10,     at end insert—

    '(2A) The Commissioner shall make publicly available, in such form as he considers appropriate, adequate details of—

(a) any assessment of good practice carried out under section 46(3);

(b) any practice recommendation given under section 47(1);

(c) any discretionary disclosure recommendation given under section 48(1);

(d) the outcome of any investigation which he has carried out following an application under section 50;

(e) any decision notice served under section 50(3);

(f) any enforcement notice served under section 52(1); and

(g) any action which he has taken under section 53.

    (2B) The details referred to in subsection (2A) shall include the name of any public authority to which they refer but the Commissioner is not required by that subsection to identify any individual who has exercised or sought to exercise any right under this Act or to make public any information the disclosure of which would be contrary to the public interest.'.

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

168

Clause     46,     page     25,     line     11,     leave out from 'may' to 'authority' in line 12 and insert 'assess whether any public'.

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Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

159

Clause     48,     page     26,     line     7,     at beginning insert—

    '(A1).—Whether on application from a public authority or from any person who has made a request for information to that authority the Commissioner may review any decision made by the public authority under section 13.'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

160

Clause     48,     page     26,     line     8,     leave out 'have'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

161

Clause     48,     page     26,     line     9,     leave out 'informed,' and insert 'inform,'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

162

Clause     48,     page     26,     line     10,     leave out 'communicated' and insert 'communicate the'.

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Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

5

Clause     50,     page     26,     line     30,     at end insert—

    '(1A) The complainant may also apply to the Commissioner for a decision in cases where a public authority has not complied with a discretionary disclosure recommendation given under section 48.'.

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

169

Clause     50,     page     26,     line     33,     leave out 'exhausted' and insert 'taken reasonable steps to raise the matter in accordance with'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

163

Clause     50,     page     26,     leave out line 36.

   

Mr Mark Fisher

61

Clause     50,     page     27,     line     19,     leave out subsection (7).

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

6

Clause     50,     page     27,     line     20,     leave out 'not'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

7

Clause     50,     page     27,     line     22,     leave out from 'information' to end of line 26.

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Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

170

Clause     51,     page     27,     line     40,     after 'information', insert '(whether or not already recorded)'.

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Mr Mark Fisher

62

Clause     52,     page     28,     line     23,     leave out subsection (2).

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

171

Clause     52,     page     28,     line     24,     after 'I', insert 'or with a practice recommendation under section 47(1)'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

8

Clause     52,     page     28,     line     30,     leave out 'not'.

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

9

Clause     52,     page     28,     line     32,     leave out from 'information' to end of line 36.

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Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

77

Clause     73,     page     36,     line     10,     leave out 'may' and insert 'shall'.

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Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

172

*Clause     81,     page     38,     line     29,     at end insert—

    '(2A) No regulations shall be made under section 73 unless a draft of the regulations has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.'.

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

173

*Clause     81,     page     38,     line     32,     at end insert 'other than section 73'.

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Mr Mark Fisher

63

Clause     82,     page     39,     line     28,     at end insert—

    '"prejudice" means prejudice which is actual, real and of substance'.

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NEW CLAUSES

Appeal against decision not to make discretionary disclosure

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—(1) Where a public authority has decided under section 13 not to inform an applicant that it holds information or not to communicate information to him and the authority has not complied with a discretionary disclosure recommendation under section 48, a decision notice under section 50(7), or an enforcement notice under section 50(2), the applicant may appeal to the Tribunal.

    (2) On such an appeal the Tribunal may review the public authority's exercise of its discretion under section 13 and may order the public authority to communicate or release the information to the applicant if it finds that the public authority has failed to exercise its discretion in accordance with the provisions of that section.'.

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Purposes

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

NC2

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—(1) The purposes of this Act are to extend progressively the right of the public to information held by public authorities to the maximum extent possible, consistent with the need to protect interests specified in exemptions, so as to promote—

(a) the accountability of public authorities;

(b) informed public debate on public affairs;

(c) public participation in the making of decisions; and

(d) public understanding of the powers, duties and operation of public authorities.

    (2) This Act shall be interpreted so as to further the purposes specified in subsection (1) and to encourage the disclosure of information, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost.'.

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Official secrets

   

Mr Robert Maclennan
Mr David Heath

NC3

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—After section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989 there shall be inserted—

    "—(1A).—(1) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this Act to prove that the disclosure or retention of the information or article was in the public interest in that he had reasonable cause to believe that it indicated the existence of crime, fraud, abuse of authority, neglect in the performance of official duty or other misconduct.

    (2) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this Act to prove that the disclosure of the information or other article for which he has been charged was in the public interest, having regard both to any damage actually caused by the disclosure and any benefit to the public interest from it; or that he had reasonable cause to believe at the time of the disclosure that it was so in the public interest.

    (3) In the case of a Crown servant or government contractor charged with an offence under sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 of this Act subsections (1) or (2) above shall only apply if he has taken reasonable steps to comply with any established procedures for drawing such misconduct to the attention of the appropriate authorities without effect.".'.

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Supply of medical etc. information

   

Miss Ann Widdecombe
Mr David Lidington
Mr John Greenway

NC4

To move the following Clause:—

    '.—A model publication scheme for any public authority mentioned in paragraphs 44, 45 and 51 of Part III of Schedule 1 may provide for information to be supplied to an applicant by the responsible primary care group or Health Authority in England and Wales or by the Northern Ireland Central Services Agency for the Health and Social Services.'.

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Prepared 1 Feb 2000