Member

The Government are committed to bringing forward the Hillsborough law, which will be introduced as a Bill into Parliament shortly. The Bill will introduce a professional duty of candour, requiring candour from all public authorities and their officials. Once the Bill has been introduced, there will be further details on how it will operate. In addition, in relation to planning, there are already provisions in planning law which encourage candour. For instance, there are special requirements when a local planning authority is considering its own applications for development. Planning regulations also require all decisions on planning applications to be published on planning registers, and for local planning authorities to clearly and precisely set out the reasons for these decisions. Therefore, we do not think further specific provisions are needed now.