Freedom of Information Act - Practice Note for Committee Clerks

Overview

1. The purpose of this guidance note is to help Committee Clerks and other select committee staff to deal promptly and effectively with requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act). It addresses aspects of FOI of particular relevance to Select Committees and should be read with the generic House-wide guidance. In addition, the Code of Practice on Freedom of Information issued by the Lord Chancellor in 2002 is relevant (see footnote 1).

The Freedom of Information Act 2000

The application of the Act to the House

2. The FOI Act creates a general right of access, subject to certain exemptions, to information held by public bodies. The House of Commons, and its Committees, are public bodies for this purpose, but individual Members are not. However, there is a unique exemption (section 34) applying to Parliament House which exempts the House from the duty to disclose information from disclosure (or even to confirm or deny the existence of any information) so far as it is necessary to avoid infringing its privileges. All formal proceedings of the House and its committees are conducted under the privilege of “exclusive cognisance”, that is to say that the House asserts the privilege of being sole judge of whether, how and when to publish material relating to its proceedings and is not bound by statute in that matter. The Act impinges on Select Committees in particular ways—and potentially more onerously than on some parts of the House service which deal exclusively with proceedings. This is because of the amount and type of information Select Committees hold which does not fall within the strict definition of proceedings, but which is essential for their effective functioning, although these may in turn be exempt under section 36 of the Act which exempts information, without applying the public interest test in the case of Parliament, from disclosure where it is necessary to protect the free and frank provision of advice, or the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation, or where its disclosure would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs. For both these exemptions, the final arbiter is the Speaker. The Act is fully retrospective.

What is a FOI request?

3. If a request for recorded information is received by a member of the Committee team other than the Clerk, it should be drawn to the Clerk’s attention. FOI requests may also be received by the Information Rights and Information Security (Information Compliance) Service who will send the details to the Committee Clerk in an allocation form. A FOI request:

• must be in writing (including email);
• does not have to describe itself as being made under the FOI Act;
• must be reasonably specific in terms of the information sought (but does not have to identify a particular document or documents);
• must be considered strictly on its merits according to the provisions of the FOI Act;
• must be disposed of within 20 working days.

4. The following glosses to the above paragraph should be noted:

• If a member of Committee staff receives what appears to be a FOI request by telephone, the caller should be advised to put the request in writing.
• The FOI Act (s.8(1)(c)) states that a request must “[describe] the information requested”. While this should preclude general fishing expeditions, there is a duty on public authorities to help requesters to clarify the nature and scope of the information sought by them.
• It should be noted that FOI applies to information, not documents as such, so the information requested may cover more than one document or only part of a single document (see paragraph 33). Please note that whilst there may be some occasions where it may be appropriate to provide a summary of data requested, it will usually be in the form of copies of documents that information will be provided. For example, in 2014, an Upper Tier Information Tribunal concluded that recorded information such as design, logos, letterheads, etc. was missing from the transcripts of expense claims which IPSA had supplied a requester in summary form (see footnote 2).
• If the information sought is held and is not subject to any of the exemptions, it must be provided free of charge, unless the amount of work involved exceeds the prescribed cost limit, in which case a fee may be levied [see paragraph 46].
• Where cost is cited as a reason for refusing a request for information, the requester must be afforded an opportunity, and any relevant advice, to enable him or her to narrow the range of the request so as to bring it within the cost-limit. But see also paragraph 46.
• Where a Committee holds information supplied in confidence, for example, by a government department, any request for that information should not be acceded to without reference to the Department in question (including information which has been submitted as formal evidence to the Committee). See paragraph 30.

5. Requests for routine, business-as-usual (BAU) information (for example, how many meetings the committee has held in the last month, what its current inquiries are, what standing orders apply to its proceedings) do not need to be treated as formal FOI requests, but in making this judgment the Clerk should err on the side of caution. A ‘formal’ FOI approach may be required if:

• Exemptions need to be applied to some or all of the material;
• We intend to refuse the request because it is repeated, vexatious or it will take more than 24 working hours to retrieve the data;
• The handling of the request by an apparently separate team might also serve to calm or reassure the requester.

6. You should also consider 20 working days to be the standard maximum period for responding to all requests for information.

The role of the Information Compliance Service

7. The Information Compliance Service is responsible for the House’s compliance with the information acts (FOI, DPA, etc.) by ensuring that requests are handled in line with our obligations and information is made publicly available where appropriate.
8. Where a Clerk judges that an information request should be handled as a formal FOI request, it should be immediately sent to the Information Compliance Service for action.
9. The Information Compliance Service will log and monitor the request, then draft a response in liaison with, and the approval of, the Committee Clerk.

What are the exemptions which are relevant to us?

10. As indicated above, the FOI Act specifies a number of exemptions to the general duty to provide information on request. Most of these exemptions apply to all public bodies, including Parliament, and are subject to a public interest test which can be the subject of an appeal to the Information Commissioner. The Commissioner may also be asked to adjudicate on the question whether the information requested falls within the scope of the exemption which is relied upon to justify non-disclosure.
11. In addition to the exemptions under sections 34 and 36 mentioned above, and dealt with in more detail below, two of these general exemptions are worth highlighting in the context of select committee activities. They are:

• information whose disclosure “would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any persons” [s.43]; and
• information provided in confidence whose disclosure would constitute a breach of that confidence [s.41].

12. A further particularly relevant exemption relates to information which is due in any case to be published at a later date. The non-disclosure of information under s.22 (information intended for future publication) has to be justified on the grounds that “the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for information was made”, and may be used to justify the non-disclosure of information whose publication may be several months away (for example, in the Sessional Return). It may also be cited in respect of Committee evidence published after the conclusion of an Inquiry.
13. As mentioned above, there are two FOI exemptions which apply specifically, or in a specific way, to Parliament: s.34 (parliamentary privilege) and s.36 (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs). Both these sections provide for the issuing, if necessary, of a Speaker’s certificate which is “conclusive evidence” that exempting an item of information from disclosure is necessary to avoid an infringement of parliamentary privilege or prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs, respectively. There is accordingly no statutory public interest test applicable to either of these exemptions, although in the case of s.36 there is a requirement of reasonableness. The exemptions themselves are described in more detail below. See paragraphs 23 to 29.

Handling requests under FOI

As previously mentioned, FOI requests will be allocated to the Committee Clerk by the Information Compliance team, even if the request was originally sent to the Committee.

Stage 1: Considering a request

14. On receipt of a the allocation form, the following questions should be asked:

• Is the request sufficiently specific? If not, we may seek clarification, or a narrowing of the scope, from the requester.
• Is the information requested held by the Committee? If yes, do any of the statutory exemptions apply? If the information is not held by the Committee but it appears likely that it is held by another department or office in the House, the request should be passed immediately on to the appropriate quarter or to the Information Compliance Service and the requester informed accordingly.
• If none of the exemptions applies, can the information be provided within the appropriate cost limit?

Copies of requests, if received directly, should be sent to the Information Compliance Service.

Stage 2: Drafting a response

15. The requester should be informed:

• Either that the request is granted.
• or that

1. the information requested is not held;
2. it is already published (or will be shortly);
3. the request is refused because it is repetitious, vexatious or it cannot be provided within the appropriate cost-limit;
4. the information is fully or partially exempted (giving reasons, clearly expressed and relating to one or more of the statutory exemptions).

Stage 3: Securing approval

16. Draft replies should be sent to the Information Compliance team and the Principal Clerk responsible for FOI for approval.
17. If the reply invokes s.34 (parliamentary privilege), draft replies should also be sent to the Clerk of the Journals for approval, who should normally be consulted in advance.
18. If the reply invokes s.36 (prejudicial to the conduct of public affairs), the Speaker must be asked to provide his ‘reasonable opinion’, so the Information Compliance Service will liaise with the Office of the Speaker’s Counsel to action this. This takes some time, so early notification that this exemption might be applied would be appreciated.
19. You may seek the advice of any of the above at any stage in the process, but should normally start with the Principal Clerk or the Information Compliance Service (or, in the case of s.34, the Clerk of the Journals).

Stage 4: The Internal Review process

20. When a requester wishes to challenge the refusal of a request for information (or some other aspect of the way in which the request has been handled), an internal review process comes into operation.
21. In the case of a refusal, the requester may wish to invoke his or her right to appeal to the Information Commissioner under s.50 of the Act. The Office of the Speaker’s Counsel will prepare the case for consideration by the Information Commissioner, should the need arise.

The Parliamentary Exemptions

22. It is the two parliamentary exemptions which are likely to be invoked in the vast majority of cases where disclosure of Committee-related information is refused.

Section 34 (parliamentary privilege)

23. Under s.34, information is exempt from the disclosure provisions of the FOI Act if “exemption […] is required for the purpose of avoiding an infringement of the privileges of either House of Parliament”. A Speaker’s certificate, if obtained, “shall be conclusive evidence of [the] fact” that exemption from disclosure is justified under s.34. However, in the case of a s.34 exemption, the Speaker’s certificate is not obtained unless and until the refusal to provide the information is referred by the requester to the ICO. The Clerk of the Journals is therefore the arbiter of its application in the first instance.
24. The House of Commons Commission has decided as a matter of policy that in the case of any request for information to which s.34 applies, whether it is otherwise safely disclosable or not, the s.34 exemption should be invoked.
25. The application of the s.34 exemption is, therefore, not a question of judgement but a matter of fact. Any information in written form which is created either preparatory to, or as a record of, a Select Committee activity carried out broadly in pursuance of its terms of reference as laid down in the relevant Standing Order is therefore likely to be privileged for the purposes of s.34 of the FOI Act because it constitutes part of the proceedings of the House. This definition is likely to encompass the great majority of Committee documents, with the partial exception of certain kinds of correspondence and some administrative information, such as that relating to the arrangements for visits (see note to Table after paragraph 40).
26. This means, for example, that briefing and other advice to Members (including legal advice) and notes on visits or meetings prepared for the use of Members should not be disclosed under FOI. But this does not preclude the ability of a Committee, voluntarily and on request, to place in the public domain information in the second of these categories, having reported the relevant document or documents to the House, as many Committees already do in the case of notes on visits published with Reports. Accordingly, material which falls into the category of parliamentary proceedings (which includes briefs, draft reports and in most cases correspondence relating directly to a committee inquiry, as well as other internal briefing material relating to the committee’s discharge of its functions), should not be disclosed in response to an FOI request. If the view is taken that an item of privileged information could be disclosed without causing harm, the requester should be told:

• that he or she is not statutorily entitled to the information under the FOI Act because, in accordance with s.34, it is exempt information,
• but that the Committee may be asked to consider making the information generally available by using one of the methods open to it for that purpose.

27. The number of occasions on which resort to this approach is necessary can be greatly reduced by pro-active publication of material as part of a publication scheme under the FOI Act. However, the Committee’s authority must be obtained for the pro-active publication of any hitherto unpublished privileged document, or category of documents. The Principal Clerk responsible for FOI and the Clerk of the Journals should be consulted before such a proposal is put to the Committee.
28. It should be noted that s.34 applies to privileged information held by third parties who may also be subject to the Act. An example might be correspondence between a regulator, or the Bank of England, or a government department and a committee directly relating to the proceedings of the committee while not being in the nature of evidence. Third parties should be aware of this requirement not to disclose such information but to instead claim the exemption after consulting the Clerk of the Journals. You should be able to advise and warn them about this.

Section 36 (Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs)

29. If s.34 does not apply because the information in question does not form part of the formal proceedings of the Committee or is not closely connected to them, s.36 may still do so. It provides that information is exempt from the provisions of FOI if its disclosure:

“would, or would be likely to, prejudice-

• the free and frank provision of advice, or
• the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation,

or would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs.”

30. In deciding whether to invoke s.36, Clerks should have regard to the test of harm set out in the Act and quoted above. This means that disclosure would be damaging to the Committee’s ability to carry out its business effectively: it amounts to more than being merely embarrassing or inconvenient. And it should be remembered that, to apply this exemption s.36 the reasonable opinion of the ‘qualified person’ must be obtained. The qualified person for the House of Commons is the Speaker. Unlike with s.34, the Speaker’s certificate must be made out at the first time of applying the exemption, which is why the Office of the Speaker’s Counsel will be asked to assist in drafting the grounds for applying the exemption to be put the Speaker.

Information provided In Confidence

31. Under s.63 of the FOI Act, information in respect of which one of the statutory exemptions has been claimed ceases to be exempt from disclosure after 30 years. (But this does not apply to the exemptions under s.34 (parliamentary privilege) and s.41 (information provided in confidence)). If asked for advice by the Parliamentary Archives about a request for disclosure of an item of information which is not privileged, but which has been provided in confidence by, for example, a Government department or agency, or by a commercial organisation, Clerks should consult the originating body before responding. In order that the Parliamentary Archives is alerted to the sensitivity of information which has been provided in confidence, the relevant documents should be clearly marked, before they are sent to the Office: “Requests for disclosure must be referred to the Clerk of the Committee”.

The Duty to Confirm or Deny

32. The general duty under the Act to confirm or deny to a requester whether the information sought is or is not held (irrespective of whether the information can be disclosed) does not apply in cases covered by s.34 or s.36, though it is not always necessary to claim this exemption, for example in cases where it is so self-evident that the information exists that it would look absurd not to admit it. Nor does it apply to a number of the other exempt categories of information, including those exempt under s.41 (information provided in confidence) and s.43 (commercial interests).

Cases where more than one exemption applies

33. Where s.34 applies, it may be cited as the sole ground for any refusal to disclose information. In other cases where more than one exemption applies to a request for information, all should be cited. But Clerks should bear in mind that the use of most of the exemptions other than s.34 and s.36 is subject to a public interest test which may be referred on appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Partial disclosure

34. Where only part of a document is covered by an exemption, edited redacted version should be supplied to the requester, indicating clearly the exemption or exemptions which relate to the material omitted. These redactions are carried out electronically by the Information Compliance Service.

Treatment of Archive material subject to exemption

35. The approach to the handling of requests for disclosure of information held by the Parliamentary Archives and subject to one of the main statutory exemptions is as follows:

s.34        not to be released for at least 30 years, and thereafter only following consultation with the relevant successor Clerk or other Officer and, where appropriate, with any third party with an interest;

s.36        not normally to be released for 30 years, though earlier disclosure is not ruled out, but again only after consultation with the relevant successor Clerk or other Officer, and third parties, where appropriate.

s.41        See paragraph 30.

Committee staff are requested, when sending material to the Parliamentary Archives, to mark clearly any document which is to be withheld under these exemptions.

Classes of information requiring a more open approach

36. The proactive publication of information reduces the number of FOI requests as well as allowing Committees to plan resources and control the information disclosed. The following examples illustrate this point.

(i) Information relating to Visits

37. The following material should, subject to security considerations, be disclosed on request:

• the global estimate, in the form approved by the Liaison Committee (where security considerations necessitate the non-disclosure of the dates or destination of a visit, this fact should be clearly indicated in the bid letter) (see footnote 3);
• the identity of Members intending to take part (subject to the usual warning about last minute changes);
• the main elements of the programme (without giving details of timings or locations).

38. After a visit is over, the full programme can be disclosed. In addition, a total outturn cost figure, by Committee, can be provided, on request, once all the relevant invoices have been received (see footnote 4). This information can be broken down into the main elements of the cost of the visit, i.e. air fares, subsistence, local transport etc. Costs are for the entire visit and not broken down by individual participant: where a request for all travel costs incurred by a particular Member covers participation in a select committee visit, the average per capita cost for the main elements applicable to individuals (airfares and subsistence for example, but not communal mini-buses, entertainment of guests, etc.) can be supplied as a sufficient answer.
39. When publishing material, Clerks are encouraged to make sure that it is accompanied by a brief description of the purpose of the visit and the inquiry or inquiries to which it relates.

(ii) Miscellaneous financial information

40. As in the case of visit-related expenditure, information about other Committee costs should also be provided, on request, without requiring the requester to wait for the publication of the Sessional Return. This includes (subject to any considerations of commercial confidentiality or data protection): transcription costs, printing costs, and total expenditure on Specialist Advisers’ fees (but not individuals).

Guidance on standard committee documents

41. The following Table summarises how the preceding paragraphs relate to specific documents (or information contained within documents) which are routinely prepared by Committee staffs.

Type of Document	Publish (a) Pro-actively or (b) On request	Invoke Exemption(s)
1. Circulars	Neither	Non-disclosure justified under s.34
2. Agendas	Neither	Non-disclosure, justified by s.34
3. Briefs for Oral Evidence	Neither	s.34
4. Chairman’s Notes	Neither	s.34
5. List of Witnesses	(a) (already practice)	—
6. Drafts of Reports	(b) in certain cases; see para 43	s.34
7. Formal Minutes	(a) (within 7 days)	Any editing justified by reference to s.34
8. Informal Notes on Meetings	Neither	s.34
9. Correspondence (including emails) (see footnote 5) Routine administrative correspondence (e.g. relating to logistics of visits or appearance of witnesses) Correspondence with Chairman or Members about inquiries or other Committee business	(b) see para 42       Neither	Subject to any editing justified by s.36       s.34
10. Appointment of Specialist Advisers	(i) standard appointment letter (b) (see footnote 6)   (ii) advice about process or merits of candidates: Neither	Subject to any editing justified by s.36 or Data Protection Act (see item 17 below)   s.34
11. Visit Budgets (global estimate)	(a) (once approved by Liaison Committee, and subject to the security considerations mentioned in paragraph 36) (see footnote 7)	—
12. Visit Expenditure	(b) On a per Committee basis only (i.e. not in relation to individual Members)	—
13. Visit Programme	(b) (but only after visit is over)	Editing or non-disclosure (e.g. on security or confidentiality grounds) justified by s.34
14. Briefing for Visits	Neither	s.34
15. Notes on Visits	(b) subject to agreement of Committee	Any necessary editing justified by s.34
16. Briefing for Meetings (including legal advice)	Neither	s.34
17. Other briefing papers (e.g. suggestions for future inquiries)	Neither	s.34
18. Specialist Advisers’ Fees	(b) Bands applicable, not actual fee	Data Protection Act
19. Unpublished written evidence	Neither (see footnote 8)	s.34

42. The references to correspondence in the Table are purely illustrative. Committees generate or receive a large amount of correspondence of many different kinds, ranging from material directly related to inquiries to unsolicited letters from members of the public. In general, correspondence which arises directly from a decision to hold an inquiry (unless it is purely administrative in content) will fall into the category of information exempt from disclosure under s.34. In considering whether a particular item of information is disclosable Clerks are advised to err on the side of caution, seeking advice in case of doubt, particularly when correspondence with individuals is concerned (where data protection issues may arise, for example through disclosure of a witness’s home address) or where defamatory matter is involved (because of the question of privilege).
43. It has been agreed by the Clerks of the two Houses that Committees can be asked to consider authorising disclosure of versions of draft reports, on request, in the following circumstances:

• five years have elapsed since the draft’s creation;
• the draft was considered by the relevant Committee (and was not, for example, an initial Chairman’s draft which was amended before being circulated to the Committee); and
• the draft varies substantially from the eventually published version (not merely in the form of minor typographical changes).
• All drafts other than those actually circulated to the Committee should be destroyed at the end of the relevant session, in accordance with the Records Disposal Policy. It is for Committee Clerks to advise Committees on whether disclosure can be made without prejudicing the work of the Committee. The role of the Committee (or successor Committee) should be an advisory one only; this is because the Clerk of the House as the relevant information/data holder (or any officer of the House acting on his behalf) ought not to have his or her discretion fettered in deciding whether information should or should not be disclosed under the FOI Act. This means that when Committees are consulted it should be made clear that, while their opinion is being sought, the final decision rests with the relevant House official.

44. Clerks are reminded that the Committee’s authorisation should be sought for any proposal to publish material which is privileged and which has not routinely been published before.
45. In respect of Joint Committees it has been agreed with the Lords that, in general, the guidance of the House providing the lead Clerk and the main administrative support should be followed. In relation to Joint Committee draft reports, even where Lords guidance is being followed, the Lords have agreed not to consider disclosure before 30 years have elapsed (compared with their normal practice of 1 year).

Other matters relating to FOI

Fees

46. According to the regulations on fees made under the FOI Act, which apply to the House, no charge may be made (apart from recovering incidental expenditure on, for example, photocopying) for responding to a request where the cost is less than the appropriate limit (£600). This is calculated on the basis of £25 per hour and therefore equates to 24 hours of work. For the purposes of establishing the appropriate limit, the House may only take into account costs incurred in determining whether it holds the information and locating, retrieving and extracting it. It may not, in particular, take into account the costs incurred in considering whether or not any exemption applies, or in obtaining legal advice. If the cost exceeds the appropriate limit there is no obligation to comply with the request, but the House, if it chooses to do so, may make a charge calculated on the same basis for the total cost of complying with the request (and not just that part of the cost which exceeds £600).

Standard templates and consistency

47. To ensure that Committees have a consistent approach to responses to FOI requests, and to minimise the workload on those responding to requests, templates for replies refusing requests on various grounds (principally relating to the privilege and the ‘effective conduct of public affairs’ exemptions) are used by the Information Compliance Service. Information provided by Committees to answer FOI requests may be amended by the Information Compliance Service to ensure the consistency of responses, but Clerks will always be notified when this occurs.

Recess arrangements

48. Under s.10 of the FOI Act, FOI requests must be dealt with within 20 working days of receipt. Committees will need to make sensible arrangements for the longer adjournments to ensure:

• that all members of staff add to their normal voicemail message and email out of office message a sentence to the effect: “If you are seeking information other than routine inquiries about the Committee’s programme and publication details, please either email your request to [give Committee email address, not individual’s] or write to [Committee address].
• that post is checked sufficiently often (at the very least, once a week) to enable FoI requests to be dealt with promptly.
• that all members of the team providing recess cover are conversant with the procedures for handling FOI requests.
• that, where appropriate, requesters are either pointed to published sources of information or told that their request has been referred to another office or department (as indicated earlier, it is important that, where a request needs to be passed to another office or department, this is done immediately).
• that where it appears that a request will take a little time to deal with the requester should receive an acknowledgement and an indication of when a substantive response can be expected.
• that if the request is likely to engage s.34 a copy of the relevant correspondence is brought to the immediate attention of the Clerk of the Journals.

Use of FOI to obtain information from other organisations

49. The fact that individual Select Committee Members and, theoretically, Select Committees themselves can make use of the FOI Act to obtain information from, for example, Government departments raises sensitive issues about the status of the power to send for persons, papers and records. It also has implications for Article IX of the Bill of Rights. Through the Liaison Committee, Select Committees have been strongly discouraged from using FOI to obtain information. And, because of their special position, this applies equally to Chairs. Any Clerk confronted with the possibility that a Select Committee (or Chair) intends to ignore this advice should consult their relevant Principal Clerk as soon as possible.

 

Annex A: Standard forms

Note: all FoI responses should be made through Information Compliance on the standard forms provided by them. Staff of committees should not normally deal directly with requesters (unless they are treating a request for information as business as usual rather than FoI.

1) Acknowledgement of request

Thank you for your letter of [insert date] which was received on [insert date]. We shall deal with your request promptly and let you have a response by [+20 working days from date of receipt]. Please contact me if you have any queries relating to your request.

2) Response – Nothing found

Thank you for your letter dated [insert date]. We have searched our records and taken all reasonable steps to locate the information requested but have not been able to do so. [Describe searches which were carried out.] So far as we are able to determine, the House of Commons does not hold the information requested.

3) Response – Information has already been published by the House

Thank you for your letter of [insert date] which was received on [insert date]. The information you have requested is available under the House of Commons Publication Scheme. [I enclose a copy / The information can be accessed at...]

4) Response – Not held by the House, but re-apply to another public authority

Thank you for your letter [insert date]. The House of Commons does not hold the information requested. [Name of public authority] may hold the information you are seeking. If you have not already done so then you may wish to write to [name of public authority and address].

5) Response – All closing paragraphs

You may, if dissatisfied with the handling of your request, complain to the House of Commons. Alternatively, if you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your request you may ask the House of Commons to conduct an internal review of any decision regarding your request. Complaints or requests for internal review should be addressed to: Information Rights and Information Security Service, Research and Information Team, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA or foicommons@parliament.uk. Please ensure that you specify the full reasons for your complaint or internal review along with any arguments or points that you wish to make.

If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, www.ico.org.uk.

 

Footnotes

1. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guidance-index/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/section-45-code-of-practice-request-handling-1/
2. IPSA v Information Commissioner and Leapman UKUT 0033 (ACC) (23 January 2014)
3. This information will be disclosed through the publication of the Liaison Committee’s Minutes of Proceedings within 7 days of the relevant meeting. There is no need for individual Committees to publish the same information themselves, but requesters should be referred to the Liaison Committee’s website.
4. An estimated outturn figure can be given as soon as it is known how many Members have taken part.
5. Where a decision is imminent as to whether particular items of correspondence will be printed with, or made available to the public at the same time as, a forthcoming Report, requesters can be asked, in accordance with s.22, to await that decision.
6. Copies of the actual letters sent to individual specialist advisers should not be disclosed (on data protection grounds).
7. Provisional total budget may be disclosed, on request, as soon as available, as may an estimated outturn once it is known how many Members will take part.
8. Where the principal reason for non-publication was a witness’s request that it be treated in confidence, it has been agreed that it would be reasonable, following an FOI request, for the Committee to be asked, once five years has elapsed from the date of submission, to consider whether the original reason for confidentiality still applies and, if not, whether the evidence should be made public (after allowing the witness a chance to make representations).
9. And the Principal Clerk responsible for FoI should be consulted.

 

 

House of Commons Information Compliance

Last reviewed January 2017