Results 1-20 of 117 for "freedom of information" speaker:Harriet Harman

Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Parliamentary Standards (23 Jun 2009)

Harriet Harman: ...simply need to work together to sort it out. The hon. Gentleman talked about the redaction of receipts. It is obviously important to ensure that the fullest possible information, compliant with the Freedom of Information Act, is put into the public domain. If public money is paying for the allowances, the public need to know which MP has spent how much and on what. The way in which...

Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Parliamentary Standards (23 Jun 2009)

Harriet Harman: ...that information should be in the public domain. It is very important, indeed, that the public are able to see it. The right hon. Gentleman will well know that Ministers' diaries are subject to the Freedom of Information Act and that everything that we do is totally in the public domain.

Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Parliamentary Standards (23 Jun 2009)

Harriet Harman: The Secretary of State for Justice is reviewing the Freedom of Information Act, for which his Department is responsible. The issues raised by the Prime Minister will be part of the review. If the hon. Gentleman has any suggestions, I hope that he will contribute to the consultation.

Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Parliamentary Standards (23 Jun 2009)

Harriet Harman: Transparency does apply to Ministers. Their diaries are subject to the Freedom of Information Act and Ministers' pay is in the public domain. There is a tight regime for registering not only Ministers' financial interests but those of any of their relatives. Those provisions are already very much in place. The constitution of the House is that Ministers should be Members of the House of...

Written Ministerial Statements — Leader of the House: Parliamentary Standards (23 Jun 2009)

Harriet Harman: ...the maximum penalty is a fine of up to £5000; and breaching the rules which prohibit paid advocacy, for which the maximum penalty is a fine of up to £5000. The IPSA will work transparently and the Freedom of Information Act will apply both to the IPSA and to the Commissioner for Parliamentary investigations. The IPSA will be made up of four members and a Chair. Selection to the...

Business of the House (21 May 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...and the right to elect their Parliament. The people of London have been given the right to have a mayor that they elect themselves. People have been given the right to more information through the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and their rights have been given more protection through the Human Rights Act 1998. In the House, debates and questions are more up to date, because we have...

Business of the House (14 May 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...and payments made that we have been given by the House authorities in electronic form cannot be given to local newspapers because it includes all sorts of information whose release would breach the freedom of information laws. For example, if I gave out the information about my expenses to the South London Press, which I want to do without having to wait for the House authorities to do...

Business of the House (29 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: The hon. Gentleman is right. We cannot have a situation in which freedom of information requests are answered but Members elected to hold Ministers to account do not get answers to their questions. That is the wrong way round. I know that every Minister wants questions to be dealt with properly, and if things are going wrong they need to be brought sharply to their attention. The Deputy...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...Members (Publication Scheme) — (1) That, subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) below, for the purpose of the publication scheme adopted and maintained by the House under section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, such information about payments made to, or on behalf of, hon. Members which is already published routinely in accordance with the scheme shall continue to be...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: The House authorities will comply with all the requests that are before them under the Freedom of Information Act—I think some 180 are in the pipeline—in the same way as they complied with the High Court judgment in respect of freedom of information requests for all the receipts of 14 Members.

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: The private Member's Bill to which my hon. Friend refers sought to remove the obligations of the Freedom of Information Act from the House authorities in respect of Members' allowances, but it did not put anything in its place. Our approach would have been to introduce a publication scheme that would have provided the public with the information they need about Members, and therefore it could...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: If, as I hope, we pass this motion on the publication scheme, every year the public will be able to see this information on every Member without there being any freedom of information request. As a matter of routine, information on what each Member has actually spent in any year will be brought forward and published, and broken down into 26 detailed categories. There is also a question to do...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...somebody has requested it, the same information should be given out in respect of every Member. It is my understanding that nobody need worry that any Member will be left out, because the 180 Freedom of Information Act requests in the pipeline cover every Member of the House. We will decide the publication scheme and the House authorities will implement it. It is important that the public...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...important point, which has also been an issue in respect of the redaction of information on receipts. This House, at the initiative of the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis), passed a freedom of information statutory instrument to remove from the disclosure anything that could reveal the addresses of Members. For example, in respect of invoices or mortgage statements containing...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: The House fully supported the freedom of information statutory instrument that we introduced last summer, and I am glad that no Minister at that point had made a grandiose commitment from the Dispatch Box never to provide any exemption; otherwise, we could not have introduced that statutory instrument providing an exemption for the sake of security, with which the House agreed. If I may, I...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...hon. Members supported it, but my understanding is that it is unnecessary because provisions are already in place on how the House authorities will go about the process of publication under the Freedom of Information Act in response to the requests that they already have. It may not be called a scheme with a capital "S", but a programme of work according to clear criteria has been...

Business of the House: Members' Payments and Allowances (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: I shall make the position absolutely clear for the hon. Gentleman. Nothing in the resolutions alters the legal obligations on the House authorities in respect of freedom of information requests under the old regime. Nothing in the resolutions affects that. The hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis) said that the court made its decision about the balance of public interest requiring...

Business of the House (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...an offer that I made to him when we met privately at his request. I was very grateful to him for offering me a man-to-man chat, and I am happy to have one of those chats with him on any occasion. On freedom of information, we have had no change of heart. We want there to be clear rules, robust audit and proper transparency so that the public can know how much MPs spend and can have that...

Business of the House (22 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ...the reputation of the House, which is why we are bringing forward tougher rules, a more robust audit and more transparency. The hon. Lady's party has been consistent in arguing, as we did, for a Freedom of Information Act, which we actually brought in, and her Front-Bench spokesman, the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath), was quite right to criticise the Johnny-come-latelies...

Opposition Day — [1st Allotted Day]: Emergency Care (21 Jan 2009) has video

Harriet Harman: ..., so that we can all be sure that the rules in the new Green Book are properly applied. Thirdly, we will come forward with a proposal that every year, irrespective of whether there has been a Freedom of Information Act request, there should be publication in 26 categories of all the money that all hon. Members have spent in that year, and on what. Fourthly, there will be a motion to...