Question to the Leader of the House:

To ask the Leader of the House, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Procedure Committee's report on written questions on his policy on Departments depositing information in the Library that has been requested in a Parliamentary Question and which has previously been substantively disclosed to non-Parliamentarians via a Freedom of Information Act response.

The Government will respond to the Procedure Committee's report on Written Parliamentary Questions in due course.

As set out in the Ministerial Code, Ministers “should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest which should be decided in accordance with the relevant statutes and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.”

The Guide to Parliamentary Work, (available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673372f9c10bb403d96bf2f8/Guide_to_Parliamentary_Work.pdf) offers guidance to departments on responding to written questions and their relationship to the Freedom of Information Act.

As set out in paragraphs 221-223 of the Guide to Parliamentary Work:

“Every question should be approached with a predisposition to give relevant information fully. There should be no inconsistencies between the provision of information in answers to written questions and information given under the FOI Act, therefore, if information would be released under FOI, it would also be released in response to a WPQ/QWA. There may sometimes be cases where Ministers decide that the importance of parliamentary accountability means that information which might otherwise be subject to a FOI exemption is given in a WPQ response. If there appears to be a conflict between the requirement to be as open as possible and the requirement to protect information whose disclosure would not be in the public interest, you should consult your FOI liaison officer if necessary.

“Ministers should be advised of any relevant FOI cases under consideration when answering written questions, and it should be revealed if information being released is of a sort not normally disclosed.

“If information is not disclosed, or fully disclosed, the draft answer should make this clear and explain the reasons in terms similar to those in the FOI Act (without resorting to explicit reference to the Act itself). For example:

“The release of information would prejudice commercial interests””