I've just had a very interesting e-mail from a FoI assistant at the House of Commons:
'Thank you for your request for information received on 6^th April 2010. When Parliament has been dissolved there is no ‘House of Commons’ for the purposes of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the 2000 Act, and there is therefore no ‘public authority’ to which the 20 day deadline under section 10 of the 2000 Act is capable of applying. The time limits do not, therefore, apply during the period of Dissolution. The effect of the 2000 Act, including its time limits, resumes when the new House of Commons first meets. As your request was received before the House dissolved, the 20 working day time limit of your request will be split, ceasing on 12 April 2010 and resuming on 18 May 2010 when the new Parliament first meets. We will endeavour to respond to your request promptly but in any case on or before 10 June 2010. If you have any queries about your request, please use the request number quoted in the subject line of this email. (...)' http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/dissolution_guidance_to_party_le Is this legally sound? I have argued in response that the parliamentary administration does cease to operate during a dissolution, at least as far as I'm aware, at the very least PICT, the Information Office and probably the Visitor's Office will continue to operate, therefore I find it hard to argue that the House of Commons qua public authority ceases to exist, even if Parliament is dissolved and then summoned again. But I'd be interested to hear further opinions on this, I fear that we get into the unclear waters of distinctions between the Corporate Officer of the HoC (who is not a public authority for the purposes of FOIA 2000) and the House of Commons itself. Any thoughts? Thanks Michael -- Michael Bimmler Term-time address: Merton College University of Oxford Oxford OX1 4JD United Kingdom +44 1865 280 000 extension 26435 +44 7824 181 743 [email protected] home address: Zuerichstrasse 119 8700 Kuesnacht +41 44 912 20 18 +41 79 864 88 18 [email protected] _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
