Inquiries Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:45 pm on 22 March 2005.
Alistair Carmichael
Shadow Spokesperson (Energy and Climate Change), Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Energy and Climate Change)
4:45,
22 March 2005
I beg to move Amendment No. 40, in Clause 24, page 11, line 44, leave out from ‘in’ to end of line 2 on page 12 and insert
‘avoiding a risk of damage to the economy outweighs the public interest in the information being revealed.’.
I do not think that I need detain the Committee unnecessarily on this amendment, because having assessed in part the Minister’s comments on the previous group of amendments, I am fairly confident that he will want to accept this amendment.
We are dealing with whether the cart or the horse comes first. The provision as it currently stands requires the panel to be satisfied that the public interest in the information that is being revealed outweighs the public interest in avoiding a risk of damage to the economy. That is to say that the disclosure outweighs the restriction. In fact, we would say—the Minister says that there is a presumption in favour of disclosure—that the disclosure should be the status quo or the presumption that requires to be rebutted. It is as simple as that, and I cannot imagine for the life of me why the Minister would wish to oppose the amendment.
Chris Leslie
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Constitutional Affairs)
Clause 24 is designed to allow for cases in which only the Treasury, Bank of England or the Financial Services Authority will have access to the full background about why public disclosure of a particular piece of information risks seriously damaging the economy of the United Kingdom.
A European Community law bar prevents regulators of financial services from sharing certain information. In some cases, that will prevent the Treasury, Bank of England or the FSA from sharing the background information with the panel. That means that the panel would be making an assessment of the risks of disclosing a particular piece of evidence without the full picture available to them. For that reason, the balancing test in clause 24 needs to be more favourable to restricting disclosure. The inquiry panel would often be assessing the public interest while unaware of the true extent of the likely damage to the economy. Therefore, it is right that information should be released by the inquiry panel only when the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs public interest in avoiding the risk of damaging the economy.
To answer the hon. Gentleman, I can certainly give the assurance that the tripartite authorities would not seek to make an application under clause 24 where the information at hand would be disclosed if an application to see it were made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I hope that that helps him in his consideration of this matter and that he will withdraw the Amendment.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
