Results 1-10 of 10 for "freedom of information" speaker:Michael Meacher

Public Bill Committee: Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]: Clause 10 - Monitoring authorities (8 Apr 2003)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...England to be as open and accessible as possible to the public, and I assure the Committee that no information will be withheld without an extremely good reason. I have always been extremely keen on freedom of information and on providing information as fully as possible to the public and to interested bodies. Indeed, one of the two private Member's Bills that I attempted to pass through...

Written Answers — Environment Food and Rural Affairs: Aarhus Convention (3 Jul 2001)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...actions. The powers needed to amend existing legislation in order to deliver the remaining requirements of the convention have already been taken in England. For instance, section 74 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 contains a power to implement the convention's access to environmental information provisions. The Government intend to use these powers to replace the current...

Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Transport and the Regions: Vehicle Emissions (7 Jul 1998)

Mr Michael Meacher: ..., and that is what we shall deliver. I agree that full information about the quality of air, the quality of water and the contamination of land should be more widely available. I hope that the freedom of information Bill, which will not be published before the White Paper on integrated transport, will enable us to make available much more extensive information which should be more...

Orders of the Day — Deregulation and Contracting Out Bill: Burdens Imposed by Public Bodies (23 May 1994)

Mr Michael Meacher: ..., if they are retained, we shall subject them to supervision by the ombudsman and to the same surcharge disciplines as local authorities. We shall provide them with a more balanced membership and require an open-government culture and freedom of information in all their dealings. In the short term, and in the context of the Bill, our new clause would minimise the more extreme and flagrant...

Orders of the Day — Data Protection Bill [Lords] (11 Apr 1983)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...obstructiveness. It is not a civil liberties Bill, and that is the basis of so many objections to parts of it. If it were, the Government would not have stamped so ruthlessly two years ago on the Freedom of Information Bill 1981, which was the opposite side of the data protection coin. Like others, I believe that the Bill is more an attempt, under pressure from a number of multinational...

Orders of the Day — Data Protection Bill [Lords] (11 Apr 1983)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...than with civil liberties and it is in line with the ethos of a Government who three years ago promulgated the iniquitous protection of official information measure and a year later stamped on the Freedom of Information Bill. Unless the Bill is radically transformed in Committee, the Opposition should seriously consider whether its defects outweigh its merits and whether we should support...

Orders of the Day — Freedom of Information Bill (6 Feb 1981)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...of proof in respect of that entitlement to know. That is why I support it so warmly. Some of the remarks made by the right hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Sir A. Maude) prompt the question why freedom of information matters. The speeches made by my hon. Friend the Member for Heeley and by the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Irving) gave some convincing answers and illustrations. My...

Orders of the Day — Freedom of Information Bill (6 Feb 1981)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...;encourages the authorities to pursue the deliberate deception of the public. They do so with impunity. Why does secrecy continue to exist? That is an embarrassing question, but we need to face it. Freedom of information is one of those issues—there are not many such issues, and the Common Market is perhaps the nearest parallel—where the leaders of both major parties in the...

Freedom of Information (25 Jul 1979)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...on two important practical questions on which supporters of the principle of a right of access to official information may differ, namely, retrospection and cost. The first question is whether a freedom of information Act should apply to documents already in existence or only to those created after its enactment. In other words, should documents written in the security of the present...

Select Committees (25 Jun 1979)

Mr Michael Meacher: ...and interdepartmental official committees and to pursue the Minister's political priorities where it counts. A third reform which has been much talked about, but has not yet been achieved, is a freedom of information Act. But, given the entrenched strength of the bureaucracy, even the proposal to set up Select Committees shadowing Departments of State, important though this is, essential...