Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, the purpose of the amendment is to make the Association of Chief Police Officers subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. All individual police forces are already subject to requests made under that Act. Furthermore, ACPO already seeks to place as much information as possible in the public domain, and the details of its accounts are available to view at Companies House. Nevertheless, having said all of that, the Government agree with the sentiments behind this amendment and have set out their proposals for a future Section 5 order, under the Freedom of Information Act, to include ACPO. This issue was discussed on the first day in Committee, in July, and on 20 July I placed a letter in the Library to highlight the Government’s response to the consultation entitled Freedom of Information Act 2000: Designation of Additional Public Authorities. By way of background, in October 2007 my right honourable friend the Prime Minister announced a public consultation on extending the coverage of the Freedom of Information Act to cover additional public authorities by way of a Section 5 order. As part of that consultation ACPO nominated itself as a suitable candidate to be covered by the Freedom of Information Act and subsequently it was included on the list of persons proposed for the Section 5 order. The government response to the consultation was published on 16 July 2009. It proposed an initial, focused Section 5 order to be accompanied by action outside the Act to promote proactive publication and openness by reminding public authorities and contractors of the existing guidance on access to information, which should inform contracting practices and responses to requests for information. On 9 September the Government wrote to ACPO inviting it to outline any matters that it thought the Secretary of State should take into consideration before deciding whether it is appropriate to include it in a Section 5 order and asking for its views on the length of time that ACPO would need between making an order and its commencement. It is clearly important that any new body being brought within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act is given sufficient time to prepare, and that includes establishing a publication scheme and training staff so that they are adequately resourced to deal with requests. It is quite something to get all that in place, as I know from being in the Home Office. The Government propose bringing forward the Section 5 order early in the 2009-10 Session and it is a requirement of the Freedom of Information Act that the order be debated in both Houses. As the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, said, ACPO is a private company limited by guarantee and is not established by statute. It is, however, referred to in statute. Both ACPO and the APA are referred to in the Police Act 1996, for example, where Section 37A places a duty on the Secretary of State to consult both ACPO and the APA on strategic priorities. I hope that that clarifies the issue. I hope that I have been able to reassure the noble Baronesses that the matter is in hand and that we are moving in that direction. On that basis, I invite the noble Baroness to withdraw the amendment.