Advanced Research and Innovation Agency
Debate between Lord Campbell-Savours and Viscount Camrose
Thursday 29th June 2023
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(1 year, 5 months ago)
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Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]
My Lords, will this organisation, with its £800 million potential budget, much of it public money, be subject to fully accountable FoI applications? If not, why not? The public interest is best served in conditions of transparency.
Viscount Camrose (Con)
Uniquely for a partnering organisation with the Government, ARIA is not subject to FoI because it is designed to be a small organisation. Laying on it the burden of FoI administration would, I fear, be antithetical to its purpose. However, that is not to suggest that there is an absence of transparency. It has statutory requirements to publish audited accounts and an annual report, both of which will be laid before Parliament.