PUBLIC bodies may be required to adhere to the Government's Code on Access to Information, after consultation in the next few weeks.
Access to Information Office head David Weeks said he expected the deadline to have all government departments formally within the code by the end of 1996 would be achieved comfortably and the unit was looking at ways of extending it to other public bodies.
Some had expressed enthusiasm at being inside the code, which was causing 'genuine cultural change' inside departments, he said.
'We want to be as open as possible and encourage transparency,' Mr Weeks said, citing the recent declassification of the Security Regulations as a demonstration.
Bodies which could be brought in include the MTR, KCR, professional associations, and other public bodies outside the Government but which receive government funds or perform government functions.
'We're committed to looking at this as a second stage,' Mr Weeks said.
The code states that, in general, all information requested should be given, but provides a long list of types of information which may be withheld, including defence and security, information provided by a third party on a confidential basis, or 'information which could only be made available by unreasonable diversion of a department's resources'.
