Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to improve the Financial Reporting Council's responsiveness to freedom of information requests.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) currently operates on the basis that it is partially designated as a public authority under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) i.e. in relation to certain statutory functions including; the recognition of recognised supervisory and qualifying bodies; the independent supervision of the Auditors General; and the registration of third country auditors.

The Independent Review of the FRC recommended that the FOIA should be applied in full by the FRC and its successor body regulator. The Government will work with the FRC to take this forward.