Localism Bill

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Wills, for moving the amendment. It is well known that he was himself, when in office, a champion of freedom of information. I am very grateful for the comment of the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, about my own record. I failed to persuade Jim Callaghan to put freedom of information into the programme of the 1976-79 Labour Government, but I was very happy that it was with Liberal Democrat votes that the Freedom of Information Act that is now on the statute book passed through this House. I am sad to read that the Freedom of Information Act is among Mr Blair’s major regrets of his premiership as it remains one of the things that I am most proud of being associated with. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Wills, is a little ungenerous about the approach of this Government. It is not true that we have done nothing since coming into office. In fact, quite the reverse is the case. I think that the initiative that this Government have shown in relation to freedom of information and transparency has been quite revolutionary. The Government are committed to extending the scope of the Freedom of Information Act and to increased transparency and have made considerable progress in this since May 2010. For instance, as part of a package of measures announced in January, we have already introduced primary and secondary legislation to extend the Act’s scope and are currently consulting on more than 200 further bodies in this regard. In order to ensure that the Act continues to meet the needs of its users, the Act as a whole will be subject to post-legislative scrutiny. I do not think that noble Lords fully appreciate just how revolutionary that is. Indeed, when I urged that we bring forward post-legislative scrutiny, some of the strongest supporters of freedom of information were slightly nervous that the Act would come under too much criticism. What I say to them, and say to supporters of the Act now, is that post-legislative scrutiny and the assessments built into it will give the opportunity to prove what I still believe: that freedom of information underpins good governance. Alongside this is another government initiative that I believe is genuinely radical. The Cabinet Office is currently undertaking a public consultation on an open data strategy, aimed at establishing how to ensure a greater culture of openness and transparency in the delivery of public services. However, there are still challenges to be faced, one of which the noble Lord highlights here. It is vital that we ensure that changes in the way that public services are delivered do not undermine our progress in enhancing transparency. We need to meet this challenge through post-legislative scrutiny and the open data consultation. We are taking a wholesale look at where improvements can and should be made. This is the weakness in the noble Lord quite legitimately using amendments to the Bill to raise these issues. We must look across the board at where we take transparency and open data and not just in the area of local government. It is important that we assess carefully the likely impact of any change against the benefits that it will bring to ensure that transparency is both maintained and enhanced—but with due regard to the burdens that might be imposed on the public sector and those providing public services under contract. It would not be right to rush through solutions now which might appear attractive but do not ultimately provide the most effective solution or which address the issues in a piecemeal fashion. Within this context, it would not be appropriate, as proposed by the noble Lord, simply to amend the Freedom of Information Act in relation to local government. The Act covers more than 100,000 bodies—central government, the education sector, the police, the Armed Forces, and the health service—and our approach should be consistent across the board. Where change is proposed, we should assess whether the change should be made in respect of all or most of these bodies, and whether alternative solutions are available. I would like to reassure noble Lords that our opposition to the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Wills, does not spring from any lack of commitment to the cause of transparency. The Government are committed to driving the transparency agenda forward with pace. Where our work demonstrates that measures are necessary to increase transparency and accountability, these will be taken. The noble Lord, Lord Wills, is an old campaigner so he knows darn well that to give a specific detailed timetable on this is simply not possible. The Government recognise that there is a strong argument for increased transparency by bodies in receipt of public funds. The Government’s open data consultation is proposing and consulting on an extension to the types of organisation to which an open data policy would apply. The Freedom of Information Act will also be subject, as I have said, to post-legislative scrutiny to see how it is working in practice. Further policy in this area will be developed in the light of the evidence drawn from these sets of work. I am basically saying that the points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Wills, are interesting and certainly will be studied, but it is necessary to get our ducks in a row. We will do a cost benefit analysis on freedom of information. That has already been commissioned and will feed into the work of post-legislative scrutiny. My department will deliver by the end of this year a post-legislative scrutiny memorandum that will be the basis of the work by the Justice Select Committee that will start early in the new year working out and testing the practicalities of the Freedom of Information Act. Bodies will be able to give evidence to the Justice Select Committee on that work. As I said, the open data consultation will close on 27 October and will be followed by a White Paper. I do not accept the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Wills, that the Government are not active in this area. The transparency agenda will make the Freedom of Information Act look like a poor relation of a Government who are really committed to transparency and will push this ahead. In the light of those assurances that what we really want to do is make sure that we have our ducks in a row before we move forward, rather than any hostility to the ideas that the noble Lord has raised, I hope that he feels ready to withdraw his amendment.