Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reasons are for the time taken to lay regulations to make Network Rail subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The regulations to extend the Freedom of Information Act to Network Rail will cover the functions of a public nature that it performs in accordance with section 7(5) of the Act. The Ministry of Justice and Department for Transport will work with Network Rail to identify correctly those functions and make sure that they are appropriately described in the draft regulations before they are laid. Section 5(3) of the Act requires that we consult Network Rail about its inclusion before regulations are made.