Speeches by Wheeler.

“Are you confident that the new processes are embedded as part of normal working practice and will deliver the standard going forward?”

“To get back to the inquiry, we note what you said about the most recent performance statistics and turning the responses around. Can you go through in detail the changes that were made to internal processes to achieve that improvement in performance? How can those changes and that improvement be embedded and consolidat…”

“Finally from me, you mentioned that a good-quality response and a timely response are of equal importance. Obviously, that is a tricky balancing act. How do the Government make efforts to achieve it? Is there anything they could do better to achieve the balance?”

“We have talked quite a bit about the quantity of WPQs coming in; let us turn to the quality of the responses coming out. Some Members have raised concerns in their evidence to us, including about answers that do not directly address the question at all, questions that are missed when grouped for response and questions …”

“You have talked about the ongoing work on quality. In your role as Leader of the House, what actions can you take to improve the quality of responses coming from across Government?”

“On a slightly different subject, is AI used at all, to your knowledge, in responding to WPQs across Government?”

“Picking up on that point, in a world where AI might have some use, how can Ministers’ responsibility for answering WPQs be safeguarded?”

“You might get your wish and come to a discussion of recess arrangements soon enough, but before we get to that, to what extent are you seeing duplicate, repeated or very similar questions playing a role in the increase in volumes? If that is an issue, what could we consider recommending to address it?”

“Would you say that we are seeing an increasing number of unprecedented days? Is it becoming a persistent norm that you do not have respite?”

“Looking specifically at carding, I fully hear the statistics that you have given. You have clearly heard some of the evidence. I will not put it to you specifically that some colleagues have suggested in their evidence that you might be creating your own work by carding more than normal, because I accept your statistic…”

“Moving on slightly, several witnesses have praised the work of the Table Office staff in their evidence, as I alluded to earlier, but some have suggested that they feel that the Table Office too readily blocks questions, and that more questions should be allowed through to the next stage of reaching Ministers. How woul…”

“No one would necessarily disagree with anything that you have just said, and lots of witnesses have put their thanks to the team on the record, but might I just press you? You have been very diplomatic about the increased number of WPQs and the strain it might be placing on the team. I am sure that they are rising to t…”

“A recently elected Reform councillor in my constituency believes that the best way to regenerate Eccles, which he described as a problem area, is to turn it into the UK’s Dubai. It might surprise him to learn that the council has already brought the town centre into public hands and, during the consultation, not one si…”

“I completely accept and understand that. I was going to ask you to compare us to members of the public, but if it is requester-blind, that would not necessarily be possible. More widely, are there any particular trends across the whole of the piece that you have observed in terms of use of FOI?”

“How has the ICO observed FOI requests being used by MPs? Have there been any particular noticeable trends over the period of time?”

“We are seeing what appears to be an increased use of AI, for both asking and answering WPQs. From your work across FOI, have you seen any evidence of AI being used by people to access the system in relation to FOI requests?”

“We are seeing what appears to be an increased use of AI, for both asking and answering WPQs. From your work across FOI, have you seen any evidence of AI being used by people to access the system in relation to FOI requests?”

“I completely accept and understand that. I was going to ask you to compare us to members of the public, but if it is requester-blind, that would not necessarily be possible. More widely, are there any particular trends across the whole of the piece that you have observed in terms of use of FOI?”

“How has the ICO observed FOI requests being used by MPs? Have there been any particular noticeable trends over the period of time?”

“We are seeing what appears to be an increased use of AI, for both asking and answering WPQs. From your work across FOI, have you seen any evidence of AI being used by people to access the system in relation to FOI requests?”