Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill

John Bercow Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Friday 24th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)]

I beg to move amendment 2, page 1, line 5, leave out from “after” to the end of the subsection and insert—

“any members of the public who are registered to vote in local elections in the United Kingdom”.

This amendment would further extend the public access to local audit documents under section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 in the interest of transparency and accountability.

[Mr Speaker]

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 3, page 1, line 5, leave out from “insert” to end of subsection and insert “including any politician or journalist”.

This amendment extends access to politicians as well as journalists so that they can access the information needed to fulfil their scrutiny function.

Amendment 4, page 1, line 5, leave out from “insert” to end of subsection and insert “including non-domestic ratepayer”.

This amendment extends access to non-domestic ratepayers and clarifies the existing law.

Amendment 5, page 1, line 5, after “any” insert “accredited”.

Amendment 6, page 1, line 5, after “any” insert “professional”.

Amendment 7, page 1, line 5, after “any” insert “qualified”.

Amendments 5, 6 and 7 would ensure that bloggers and citizen journalists would not have greater access than other members of the public.

Amendment 8, page 1, line 6, leave out subsection (3).

This amendment would remove the definition of journalist.

Amendment 1, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“(1B) In subsection (1A) publication of journalistic material means the proposed inclusion in a newspaper or magazine whether paid for or distributed without payment and includes any article proposed to be published on any website on the internet whether it can be accessed without payment or upon payment of a subscription.”

The purpose of this amendment is to make clear that the section covers all journalists who may wish to publish their articles in a newspaper or magazine or on the internet, irrespective of whether there are any charges for either.

Amendment 9, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) The relevant authority must ensure that any person interested in making an inspection within subsection (1) may do so at all reasonable times and without payment”.

This amendment would extend to section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 the same conditions as is set out in section 25 (3) of the Act.

Amendment 10, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) In subsection (1) after ‘Act’ in line 1 leave out ‘other than an audit of accounts of a health service body’”.

This amendment (which amends section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014) would enable “persons interested” to inspect the accounting records relating to the audit of accounts of a health service body.

Amendment 11, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) In subsection (1) after “At” in line 1 insert “and after”.

This amendment (which amends section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014) would extend the period in which inspections can be carried out beyond 30 days.

Amendment 12, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) In subsection (4)(a) leave out “inspect or”.

This amendment (which amends section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014) would remove the restriction on inspecting any part of any record or document on the grounds of commercial confidentiality but would retain the restriction on copying.

Amendment 13, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) Subsection 4 (a) after ‘grounds of’ insert ‘current’”.

This amendment (which amends section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014) would ensure that documents relating to past contracts could be inspected.

Amendment 14, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) Subsection (5) is hereby repealed.”

This amendment (which amends section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014) would remove the definition in the Act of when information is protected on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.

[Mr Chope]

In moving amendment 2, we are mindful that this is a week in which there has been an attack on our parliamentary democracy, and we mourn Keith Palmer and the others who were the victims of that terrorist. This Bill and these amendments deal not with parliamentary democracy, but with local democracy, and their purpose is to strengthen further our local democracy in the United Kingdom.

I will also speak to amendments 3 and 4, which extend the range of individuals who are able to benefit from the powers under section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014—my hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) is seeking to achieve that in her Bill. I shall also speak to amendments 5, 6, 7 and 9, which look in detail at what we mean by the expression “journalist” in clause 1. My hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall) has an amendment dealing with the definition of journalistic material, which I shall leave him to address.

Amendment 9 deals with the arrangements for exercising the right to inspect, and amendment 11 would extend the period within which such rights can be exercised beyond 30 days. Amendment 12 would enable documents, which are claimed to be commercially confidential, to be inspected but not copied. Amendment 13 would extend the right to inspect past contracts, and amendment 14 would leave the definition of commercial confidentiality unaltered in common law. Finally, amendment 10, which is arguably the most radical of these amendments, would extend the right of inspection beyond local government to the audit of accounts of any health service body as defined in the 2014 Act.

It will be obvious from that brief summary that all the amendments are faithful to the long title of the Bill, which is to extend public access to certain local audit documents under section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

My amendments are also inspired by recent experiences of how secrecy in local government is undermining the ability of members of the public properly to scrutinise what is happening and to hold councils to account. They also seek to address some of the issues raised on Second Reading on 25 November.

--- Later in debate ---

That is a current example of what is happening across the country in local government. I do not know whether you read “Rotten Boroughs” in Private Eye, Mr Speaker, but there is so much information in it now that it almost needs to be a separate supplement. So much material is coming out but so little of it can get into the public domain, partly because of the pressure put on local newspapers. If they cause trouble with their local council, they may suffer discrimination because there will not be any advertising for local council jobs and they will not get access to information.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The reference by the hon. Gentleman to the “Rotten Boroughs” column is, of itself, orderly, but it might help and inform the debate if that reference could be related more specifically to the terms of the important amendment to which he is speaking.

[Mr Chope]

I absolutely take that point, Mr Speaker.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Chope]

That is the first time that anyone has suggested I am living in the past. To take my hon. Friend’s point, if we are to give privileged access to journalists—our hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills is seeking to give journalists privileged access compared with other members of the public—those journalists need to be qualified in the sense that they understand the law, not just people who are prejudiced or not objective and who do not have the standards that we normally expect of journalists. My feeling is that if we are to give them special privileges, they should be duly accredited.

As I have said, I have expressed that point in alternative ways: we could also refer to them as professional journalists. As you may know, Mr Speaker, there is a society called the Society of Professional Journalists, which requires a professional journalist to adhere

“to a strict code of ethics so as to maintain and preserve public trust, confidence and reliability”—

I am sure my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) thinks it important that journalists should adhere to a strict code of ethics—

“To ensure this the process of ‘gate keeping’ is upheld within mainstream media. This relies on all experienced and trained journalists and editors to filter any nonfactual information from news reports before publication or broadcasting.”

I do not want to go into the whole issue of fake news, but it is probably now more important than ever for us to ensure that there is some basis for the reports put forward by journalists, and how can that be policed unless by a body such as the National Union of Journalists or the Society of Professional Journalists?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Ordinarily, I feel that I can follow and, to an extent, anticipate the hon. Gentleman, such is the frequency with which I have heard his speeches over three decades, but on this occasion my senses have deserted me. I had thought that he was going to tell us how many members the society has.

[Mr Chope]

Mr Speaker, I was not actually going to go into that level of detail.