Clause 36 - Investigations and reports on
Enterprise Bill
5:15 pm
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
I agree with the hon. Gentleman about the importance of adequately protecting confidential information, and we have tried to achieve that throughout the Bill. A blanket ban on disclosing information, however, is not appropriate. A balance needs to be struck between protecting confidential information and ensuring that an adequate explanation is given, which is an assessment that needs to be made case by case.
The amendment would remove the Competition Commission's ability to find the right result when publishing its reports on references. Businesses have told us that it is important for the new regime to operate transparently, which it will. For example, we expect the Competition Commission to produce provisional findings part of the way through its inquiries, the Bill provides for authorities to consult parties on proposed decisions and we are introducing duties to give reasons for decisions. Those measures add up operational transparency, which will be good for business.
However, greater transparency means that more information will be made available. Occasionally, information that one party would argue was confidential would be an essential part of the reasoning in a case of which another party would need to be made aware, which, to a degree, is a problem now. We have therefore proposed a test for the disclosure of information that would apply to all merger information. Clause 235 sets out a test that will ensure that the authorities have regard to all of those issues.
I hope that I have reassured the hon. Gentleman that in many ways we are with him on the matter and are seeking to strike the right balance.