My Lords, there is a very significant difference between privacy and secrecy. There could be lots of reasons for privacy, but not only involving an entrepreneur. Take Tony Blair’s tax return, for instance. That is his private matter, but this Bill will open up private matters to anyone for any proper purpose. Blair and others can support their own cases, but who will speak up for the entrepreneurs? It is indeed a great power of the state to inquire about something, but that power should not be given to all its citizens. The state has its own secrets too, which is as it should be. Transparency is not always a merit. These proposals presume that anything which is not transparent is bad, and that anyone who is involved in anything secret is guilty of something. That is clearly not the case. There are nearly 3.5 million businesses in the UK. The vast majority of them are law-abiding and simply trying to make products that people want to buy or provide services that they need. In any case, there is unlikely to be reliable ownership information on criminals, who can be expected to conceal their interests. If this is intended to root out a few bad cases, then it really is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Tony Blair mentioned in his memoirs that he regrets the freedom of information legislation. I can see why, as life has got more complex since then, with real threats affecting Britain. It is not impossible that extremist threats could be made against alcohol producers or other producers of goods not approved by IS
sympathisers, or scientists and research facilities by violent animal welfare groups. Debbie Vincent was sentenced to six years in prison after attempting to blackmail an animal testing company. The campaign she was involved in used the threat of improvised explosive devices and the desecration of graves. Cases like that must be taken into consideration when we decide what information to make available. But it is not just extremist threats. Freedom of information has unquestionably changed people’s behaviour. This is mainly to avoid things being written down, which can make simple tasks all the more difficult to carry out. Not writing things down has the perverse effect of encouraging more secretive behaviour.
I took a look at the impact assessment of the policy, which was mentioned by my noble friend. I found it staggering. The cost is estimated to be £1.08 billion and the value zero—no benefits apart from a woolly promise to “lead the way” on transparency. Can our coalition partners or the Labour Party really not think of anything better to do with a billion pounds than make companies waste it on lawyers? There may well be Members of this House who believe that there could be nothing wrong with spending a billion pounds on professional fees, but they are in the minority and I believe they are proven lawyers. With these new rules, a private company raising money to employ more people and expand will have to go through extra hurdles to get a new shareholder. It is hard enough to get a new shareholder when a company really needs it so any extra burdens will make that important task much more difficult.
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We must always remember that regulation is as bad as taxation—often worse, in fact, because it is insidious and stealthy. For this amount of money, we could reduce the rate of corporation tax by 2% for a year, causing a large increase in employment and more money for pay rises. Can I tease my noble friend the Minister into revealing whether she actually believes that this part of the legislation is better than a tax cut? But if we are to have this cursed regulation, I would like my amendments to be considered.
The first is to make sure that the proper purpose of the inquiries is the same proper purpose as had been declared. Is it inconceivable that a journalist or an animal rights activist would make an inquiry for anything other than a proper purpose? Is it likely that he will change the purpose when he gets the information?
The second will try to ensure that inquirers are honest. There is a list of severe penalties for directors of companies who cheat or lie on the register—two years in jail would seem to be a severe penalty indeed. Surely if the individual inquirer lies, he should face the same risks of two years’ imprisonment as a company officer; that is in new Section 790R, I believe. But I believe it is most likely that an organisation will get an individual to front for it. This amendment makes the organisation culpable.
I thank my noble friend the Minister and her Bill team for their time and courtesy in answering my questions. I believe they are doing a rotten task in the best way it can be done. The draftsmen of this sort of
legislation believe that they are dealing with reasonable people. That is always an interesting idea. But the trouble is that there are some really nasty people out there. I fear that if we give the public this whole new power at enormous cost, certain responsibilities go with it. There are other options, too. My noble friend Lord Flight has proposed very sensible amendments. I think it would be a good idea to defer public access until we properly assess the international landscape, as we are the only country currently proposing to do this. Clause 82(4) creates a three-year review period. Can my noble friend confirm whether the review will reveal whether there has been any increase in the number of threats made as a result of this legislation?