The Government is committed to publishing a draft Bill on Freedom of Information in the current session of Parliament. The Home Secretary announced in the House on 30 November, that he hoped that the draft Bill would be available by the end of February, though that depended on good progress being made on turning the broad principles of the White Paper into legislation.

The draft Bill will then be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Select Committee on Public Administration and there will, in parallel, be an opportunity for further public consultation.

We will then bring the legislation before Parliament as and when the legislative programme permits. It is not our practice to anticipate the contents of the legislative programme for future sessions of Parliament in advance of The Queen's Speech. I can, however, assure you that legislation on Freedom of Information, as a Manifesto commitment, remains an essential part of our programme to modernise the country's constitution.