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The Campaign for Freedom of Information |
| Has your MP signed the Parliamentary motion calling on the government to improve its weak Freedom of Information Bill? A total of 195 MPs, listed below, have so far signed. If your MP is not on the list please consider writing and asking him or her to sign.
The motion is what is known as an "Early Day Motion" or "EDM". You should ask your MP to sign EDM No 901 on Freedom of Information. This is what it says. The motion can only be signed in the next few days, before the new Parliamentary session starts on November 17 1999. So if you are planning to write, please do so as soon as possible. Note that government ministers and Conservative front bench spokespersons do not sign these motions. If your MP is one of these, you could still ask them to press for substantial improvements to the Bill. |
| FREEDOM OF INFORMATION Early Day Motion 901 | Tabled on 19 October 1999 | ||||||||||||||
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195 signatures |
| That this House calls on the Government to include a freedom of information act in the coming Queen's Speech; welcomes the Home Secretary's willingness to reconsider the contents of the draft Freedom of Information Bill in light of the Public Administration Committee's recommendations; endorses the Committee's conclusion that 'an effective Bill needs to be based more firmly on clear rights and less on discretionary duties'; and calls on the Government to amend the draft bill to reflect the Committee's recommendations and in particular to (a) give the Information Commissioner, not ministers and authorities, the final word on when the public interest justifies disclosure and have the same power as the Commissioner under Ireland's Freedom of Information Act to compel disclosure on these grounds and (b) limit the all-embracing exemption for all information 'relating to the formulation or development of Government policy' so that it applies only where it can be shown that disclosure would be harmful and to exclude from this exemption factual information and its analysis, again in line with the Irish Act. |
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Briefing pack on the Government's proposals |
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Freedom of Information & Open Government |
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