Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill

That is a concern. There are some other good examples of why we should not change the system. The Irish legislated in 1997; they now have very good freedom of information and data protection legislation that works extremely well. This Bill would mean a move back from such standards. The South Africans have a very open regime under their new constitution. The Indians too have a very open regime. The New Zealanders are debating at the moment whether to move in the direction of our present legislation, rather than away from it. I have not detected a debate anywhere else that proposes to reduce access. There are things that we can do to reassure the public regarding matters of extreme delicacy or sensitivity. For example, if I thought that my local police commander was corrupt—that has never applied in my borough; I have never had that problem—I might ask to see their senior officer about the matter personally. MPs can always have oral communication, which does not carry the same risks as written communication. If I think that there is a risk of someone’s identity being disclosed, I regularly decide not to attribute a name to the person in my correspondence. I also ensure that the reference does not give away their identity. I will use the issue as the subject title, rather than the person’s name. There are ways of anonymising the correspondence that we deal with.