Clause 8 - Overview and Scrutiny Committees: Exempt Information
Health and Social Care Bill
5:15 pm
Mr Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam, Liberal Democrat)
I have a question on the Government's thinking about the difference in operation between NHS bodies, which are governed by the access arrangements made under 1960s legislation on access to public bodies, and local authorities, which are governed by the Local Government Act 1972. Can the Minister tell us a little more about how, through regulations, he can ensure that a trust cannot decide that it would be embarrassed to provide information that was not exempted under the Local Government Act that might nevertheless be exempt under the 1960s legislation? How can we ensure that local authorities, with their new powers of overview and scrutiny, can obtain all the necessary information, including information that trusts might not want published under the 1960s legislation but which they would have to publish if they were covered by the Local Government Act?