Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill

That is exactly right. I mentioned earlier that if information is leaked or inadvertently released, that is already an offence under the Data Protection Act 1998 and can be dealt with under existing regulations. There is no need for further legislation to deal with that problem. I challenge the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border—and, indeed, the Minister, who seems to be supporting him on behalf of the Government—to come up with some cases to show why changes to the present arrangements are necessary. If they cannot do so, they should support the amendments tabled in my name. Any official with even the most modest understanding of the freedom of information regime would immediately recognise that an MP’s correspondence about a constituent’s personal affairs could not legitimately be disclosed. Unauthorised disclosure of such information would be likely to involve a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998, or a breach of confidence at common law. This could lead to enforcement action by the Information Commissioner under section 40 of the Data Protection Act. As far as I am aware, no such cases have been brought by the commissioner in respect of MPs’ correspondence. Such breaches could also lead to action for compensation under section 30 of the Act, if the individual concerned had been damaged by the disclosure. I am aware of no such cases involving the disclosure of MPs’ correspondence. They could also lead to action for damages at common law if an individual had suffered damage as a result of a breach of confidence. Again, I am aware of no such cases involving MPs’ correspondence. The Bill seeks to deal with a problem that does not exist, and the amendments seek to recognise that, and to support the Government’s own legislation, which the Government themselves now seem to be abandoning. Amendment No. 2 deals with communications with a public authority. There might be other issues that do not involve constituents but which would involve discussions between Members of Parliament and public authorities. There is a concern that material produced by a Member of Parliament in his or her constituency role with a public authority might be released, inadvertently or otherwise, and that that would be damaging. The right hon. Gentleman told the Public Bill Committee:"““We must have the freedom to express to chief constables, the tax authorities and so on, our personal view about the veracity of a constituent. That may not be protected information in all circumstances. If that information is released accidentally by a police clerk releasing the file, it puts us in an enormously difficult position. We must have the right, as Members of Parliament, to express a personal opinion about a constituent or someone else when we write on behalf of a constituent and we must have a guarantee that that is protected. That is my motivation. It is what is driving me and I hope to convince the Committee that it is a problem that has to be remedied.? ––[Official Report, Freedom of Information (Amendment) Public Bill Committee, 7 February 2007; c. 8.]" Now that we know what is driving the right hon. Gentleman, I hope he will accept that the amendments deal with the problem that he identified. What concern him are issues related to data protection rather than to freedom of information. I would have understood his intentions better had he sought to identify and articulate the problem, cited examples, and then tried to remedy deficiencies in the Data Protection Act, if there are any. The problem that he identified relates not to the freedom of information regime, which is ostensibly what the Bill is about, but to data protection. If that problem does indeed exist, the right hon. Gentleman is seeking to amend the wrong Act. Personal information of the kind that the right hon. Gentleman described in Committee is not disposable under the Freedom of Information Act. It is as simple as that. As my hon. Friend the Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey pointed out a moment ago, it might, in theory, be available under the Data Protection Act, but that would not constitute a public release of information. An individual has the right to go to his or her Member of Parliament and ask to see information that is held by that Member of Parliament, or a public body, in a particular file. Members of Parliament are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act in the same way as public authorities, but we are subject to the Data Protection Act. The regimes are different, in terms of the way in which they operate, their purposes and whom they cover. Even the right that is granted by the Data Protection Act, which is what concerns the right hon. Gentleman, is subject to exemptions. For example, disclosures likely to prejudice law enforcement or, in the case of health or social work records, seriously to harm the physical or mental health or condition of the individual or some other person are exempt even from the permissive provisions of the Act, which allow people to view their records. However, an opinion expressed about an individual—this may be what the right hon. Gentleman was referring to in Committee—is not as such protected, whether it is expressed by a Member of Parliament, a member of a public authority’s staff or anyone else. The right hon. Gentleman wishes to deal with that, but the Bill would not affect disclosures under the Data Protection Act, and therefore would not deal with his concerns. He may wish to consider amending the Data Protection Act, but what the Bill deals with is the freedom of information regime, and what information about public bodies can be released as a result of requests from individuals, Members of Parliament and the media.