Michael Fallon MP (Conservative) MP for Sevenoaks. Chairman of the Treasury select committee.

Freedom of Information

Signed Early Day Motion 2699 Freedom of Information 10 December 2006

That this House welcomes the finding of the Constitutional Affairs Committee (HC991) that the Freedom of Information Act has `already brought about the release of significant new information and....this information is being used in a constructive and positive way' and the committee's conclusion that it sees `no need to change' the Act's charging arrangements; views with concern reports that the Government is considering changing these arrangements to permit an application fee to be charged for all requests or to allow authorities to refuse, on cost grounds, a significant proportion of requests which they currently must answer; and considers that such changes could undermine the Act's benefits of increased openness, accountability and trust in the work of public authorities.

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News

2008-01-10 - Accountancy Age - Bonus payouts for HMRC staff that lost benefit discs: Author: Penny Sukhraj; Summary: The HMRC department that caused the blunder which saw the personal details of 25 million families go missing, has been given £19m in performance-related bonuses. ... Conservative chairman of the Treasury sub-committee, Michael Fallon, described the scale of the payout as 'staggering'. 'Given the over-payments of tax credits and data loss mistakes, constituents might be surprised to learn that a third of staff at HMRC shared a performance-related bonus,' said Fallon.

2007-12-06 - The Telegraph - HMRC boss admits to more data losses: Author: Andrew Porter; Summary: HMRC has admitted there have been seven other significant data losses in recent years. ... The Tories last night said his comments directly contradict assertions by Chancellor Alistair Darling, who has insisted that the loss was an isolated incident. Mr Hartnett agreed with committee chairman Michael Fallon when he asked: "If you have had seven serious security breaches in the two-and-a-half years since you were set up doesn't that indicate systemic failure?"