UK Parliament / Open data

Health and Social Care Bill

Proceeding contribution from Lord Owen (Crossbench) in the House of Lords on Monday, 19 March 2012. It occurred during Debate on bills on Health and Social Care Bill.
It is exactly the wording of the amendment, "““to consider the detailed reasons for the first-tier tribunal decision””," if there is sufficient time. This is the issue of freedom of information. I have already openly admitted that Governments tend to restrict information and Oppositions want the maximum amount of information. That is the inherent tension which the Freedom of Information Act was established to try to resolve. It seems wiser to listen to those voices. The noble Earl raised the question of constitutional issues. The Bill raises some serious constitutional issues. The Government have no mandate for the Bill. They specifically went to the electorate and said that there would be no top-down reorganisation of the National Health Service. That is considered by a lot of people outside this House to be a flagrant lie. That is one constitutional issue.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
736 c656 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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