Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Pope
Hi, I'm happy to explain where I stand on MPs and freedom of information. First of all I didn't vote on this Bill because, like most MPs, I had arranged to spend that Friday on meetings in my constituency (some Fridays like that one are set aside for Private Members Bill which MPs don't have to be there for. Most MPs had already made long standing arrangements when this Bill came forward). However, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am in favour of publishing MPs' expenses; I published mine on my website before MPs had to do so and I still publish them in advance of most MPs - I believe strongly that the people have a right to know exactly how much I cost the people. I am opposed to exempting Parliament as whole from the Freedom of Information Act - obviously the same rules should apply to Parliament as to ther public bodies.
However, there is a problem that does need addressing even if this Bill is the wrong way of going about it. Some correspondence from MPs on behalf of constituents has ended up in the public domain because of the FOIA and it seems that the current Data Protection rules aren't adequate to prevent this - I do believe that people have a right to confidentiality when they go to see their MP.
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Thank you, it's good to know where you stand on this issue.
Some of the people who support the bill seem to suggest that confidential information isn't covered by the Data Protection Act. According to this article, it seems that it quite clearly already is. So unless they have something to hide, no MP's should be supporting this Bill.
It's bad enough, come July, that the only place exempt from the smoking ban will be the House of Commons. The laws of the land should be applicable to all.
'For correspondence between MPs and constituents is already protected under the data protection legislation. Mr Maclean knows this because he perfectly explained the situation to the House. As he said, when a third party attempts to access a file containing a letter from a Member of Parliament to a public authority, an officer of the public authority should consult the Member and should look at the file, and then should make a decision on whether it should be released. If it contains personal information, the officer of the authority should invoke the Data Protection Act 1998 and should not release it.'
Andreas Whittam Smith: The MP, his quad bike and a phoney scare story - Independent Online Edition > Andreas Whittam Smith