Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

I can answer that point directly. The review team said that""neither the case for 15 years nor the case for 20 years is beyond argument. It must be a matter of judgement how to strike the balance"." I do not say that there is direct evidence because we are making judgments about the future, but our judgment was that the balance would be best struck at 20 years. Hon. Members should bear in mind that, with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, most records are not closed even within the current envelope of 30 years—soon to be 20 years, I hope. Records can be requested even after a couple of years. However, that decision was a matter of judgment.