I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 35 together.
I presume that these questions arose from recent remarks, which were partially reported in the media, made by the Information Commissioner at the press conference to launch the publication of his second annual report.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, the Minister for Finance has power to make regulations for the management and maintenance of records held by public bodies, following consultation with the Information Commissioner and the Director of the National Archives. I have no evidence that the standard of record keeping in public bodies overall has deteriorated. I will, however, be keeping the matter under review and I intend to arrange for the staff in my Department dealing with freedom of information to consult widely with public bodies in this regard. This process has already started.
I should mention that prior to the introduction of the FOI Act in April 1998, a training course in best practice in records management was organised for all Departments by the Centre for Management and Organisation Development, CMOD, in my Department, and a number of Departments took important initiatives to improve their record keeping systems. In addition, the importance of records management and the need for public bodies to keep adequate records is continually stressed to staff of public bodies attending FOI training courses.