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Departmental Disclosure of Information

Volume 504: debated on Wednesday 27 January 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) agencies and (b) non-departmental public bodies for which his Department is responsible sell information on a commercial basis to (i) companies or individuals in the private sector and (ii) other organisations. (313226)

In common with executive agencies, and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) across central Government that have Crown status, the Department’s agencies and NDPBs make most of their information available for free re-use under the PSI Click-Use Licence. Some information is contained in priced publications. Government trading funds, including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for which Department’s Ministers have responsibility, are able to charge for the services they provide in order to cover their costs. This includes charging for the provision of information to other public bodies, commercial organisations and individuals.