Written question asked by Lord Pickles (Conservative) on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 October 2008. It was answered by Iain Wright (Labour) on Wednesday, 29 October 2008 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Buildings: Electronic Government

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government further to her Department's plans for enabling electronic communication of building control documents, which public bodies other than local authorities (a) may and (b) will have access to this building control data, in whole or in part.

Answer: The Building (Electronic Communications) Order S.I. 2008/2334 was made on 28 August 2008 and laid in Parliament on 4 September 2008. The provisions came into force on 1 October 2008. They simply enable building control bodies and competent persons to implement electronic communication capabilities and are entirely discretionary. As I indicated in my reply of 16 October 2007, Official Report, column 1024W, they in no way change access rights to building control documents held by local authorities. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) applies to all information (electronic or otherwise), held by local authorities, including building control documents, and FOI requests can be made by public bodies.

Secondary information