Results 1-13 of 13 for "freedom of information" speaker:Philip Hammond

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: New Clause 13 (19 Jun 2008)

Philip Hammond: ...is  available and undertaken by the Treasury, and the Committee will note that accordingly. Of course, we cannot force her to give us an answer unless we pursue it with written questions or a freedom of information request, but it would have been helpful if we had known the answer. Having listened to the Minister’s response, and in view of the hour, I beg to ask leave to withdraw...

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: New Clause 13 (19 Jun 2008)

Philip Hammond: ...was advised of them, and the suggestion that the measure was expected to be positive is itself bogus. We saw that when eventually, after a two-year legal battle fought with public money, the freedom of information request made by The Times was finally acceded to. However, I suspect, Sir Nicholas, you would not want me to divert into a debate that, as the hon. Gentleman rightly says, we...

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: New Clause 13 (19 Jun 2008)

Philip Hammond: ...since 2007, “under our watch”, as the right hon. Member for Birkenhead put it. Only a third of final salary pension schemes are still open to new members. You will remember, Sir Nicholas, the papers released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, after a long battle by the Treasury to prevent their release, which showed that the then Chancellor, the current Prime Minister,...

Written Answers — Health: Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (12 Jun 2008)

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what arrangements the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has in place to consider commercial interests when responding to freedom of information requests; (2) what plans executive agencies of his Department have to review regulation of (a) unlicensed medicines, (b) off-label medicines and (c) medicinal products specifically...

Delegated Legislation: Clause 6 — Transfer of property, rights and liabilities (21 Feb 2008)

Philip Hammond: ...us from the Lords fall into three groups: those dealing with transparency, the one dealing with fairness, and those dealing with procedure. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 deal, respectively, with audit and freedom of information. There is a clear need for an audit of the situation in Northern Rock, including an analysis of the quality of the loan book, which would not necessarily be undertaken in...

Delegated Legislation: Clause 6 — Transfer of property, rights and liabilities (21 Feb 2008)

Philip Hammond: I say to the right hon. Gentleman that there are other companies in the public sector that are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The concern that he has will not arise because there is an exclusion from freedom of information provisions for commercially sensitive information. Let us be clear: what the Government are seeking to protect is not the commercial secrets of Northern Rock,...

Banking (Special Provisions) Bill [Ways and Means]: Clause 6 — Transfer of property, rights and liabilities (19 Feb 2008)

Philip Hammond: ...out those strategic objectives. That is all extraordinary. Perhaps that is why the Government have included a provision in their draft order that the publicly owned Northern Rock will be exempt from freedom of information requests—so that we may never know. The risks of nationalisation are clear. The first is the politicisation of the decisions. I do not blame the hon. Member for...

Orders of the Day: Banking (Special Provisions) Bill (19 Feb 2008)

Philip Hammond: ...the commitments that we heard the Chancellor give yesterday and today, but the situation is worse than that. Looking at the draft order, it is clear that the Government want to exempt Northern Rock from the freedom of information obligations of a publicly owned company. They want to allow Ministers and civil servants to act as shadow directors, but not to be liable to the risks and...

Opposition Day — [8th allotted day]: Occupational Pensions (17 Apr 2007)

Philip Hammond: ...of the Chancellor's reckless disregard of the warnings that he received and his shameful gambling with the future retirement security of millions of ordinary people. We know that only because of the freedom of information request made by The Times. The Chancellor told us that he welcomed the information coming into the public domain and he claimed credit for introducing the Freedom of...

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: Clause 25 - Rules relating to deductions (23 Jun 2005)

Philip Hammond: ...about things that they want to be on the record, while the things that it is inconvenient to have on the record are discussed off the record? Such things happen in other areas. I am sure that in today's freedom of information environment, they probably happen in Government Departments; certain things are not discussed in case they fall foul of disclosure rules under freedom of information...

Fire Safety (27 Jan 2005)

Mr Philip Hammond: Well, the Minister says it is true, but on the one hand we have the Freedom of Information Act, while on the other we have the increased use of public-private partnerships, in which everything that happens is commercially confidential, so we cannot find out what is going on. Fire and rescue authorities cannot find out what the project is going to cost and they do not know what their ongoing...

Local Government Finance (26 May 2004)

Mr Philip Hammond: ...are estimating first-year deficits of anything between £40,000 and £700,000, depending on the size of the authority. Those deficits will have to be met by council tax payers. Compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will impose substantial direct and indirect costs on authorities. Many are recruiting full-time compliance officers, and anyone who understands how...

Public Bill Committee: Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill - Clause 12 - Local government review (12 Dec 2002)

Mr Philip Hammond: ...or may not be a bad thing, but I am sure, Mr. Benton, that you would not encourage me to go into a lengthy discussion of that topic today. Availability of information, transparency of government and freedom of information—about which we heard so much from the Labour party when it was in opposition and about which we have heard so little since—are relevant factors. Amendment...