Mary Henry (Independent)

I do not believe we have been given evidence that the original Act is causing problems in this area. The Information Commissioner's report, which we received yesterday, outlines ways in which a persistent requester can be dealt with. No one wants to make some sort of charter for people who make frivolous or vexatious claims, but that is already in the Act. Legislation that has been working well should not be spancelled. People may have good reasons for making repeated requests for information if they have not got everything they want. This is important in view of the fact that there will be changes in that the term "contain" will be included in the Act rather than the phrase "relate to". That is welcome because one might not ask the right question the first time and may get a little more information from the second request.