Freedom of Information Act 2000

Lord Wills Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Wills]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to amend the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, the Government are already amending the Freedom of Information Act through the Protection of Freedoms Bill, including provisions to extend the Act to more than 100 extra bodies and to introduce new rights in relation to data sets. These are part of a much wider set of measures to enhance transparency. The Freedom of Information Act is also currently the subject of post-legislative scrutiny by the Justice Select Committee.

[Lord Wills]

My Lords, I very much welcome that Answer from the Minister, and that commitment to transparency. He will be aware of a report in the Guardian last month that civil servants are calling for higher fees for users of that Act in order to discourage them from using it. I am sure he will recall that at one point the previous Government also looked at increasing charges for users of the Act, but they dropped that proposal when they realised the damage that it would do to transparency. Will the Minister now rule out increasing charges for users of the Act?