Robert Hart, Parliamentary Reporter 
Whiteman
INFORMATION MINISTER Senator Burchell Whiteman has admitted that not all 264 Government departments and agencies would be capable of fully participating in the Access to Information (ATI) Act once it comes into full effect on July 5.
Minister Whiteman was responding to questions from the Opposition after making a statement to the Senate yesterday in which he indicated that the annual report on ATI would not be ready for its legislated June 30 deadline.
He said the report would be ready by July 15, but that he could not give a definitive timeline for the complete preparedness of all government entities.
"I would not wish to say that by January 2006 we (government entities) will be totally ready," Minister Whiteman told the Senate.
He was addressing queries from Senator Dwight Nelson, Opposition spokesman on information, who asked whether all entities were prepared for the full implementation of the Act next Tuesday.
All government ministries are, reportedly, already compliant with the Act, which is to be reviewed two years after the first phase of implementation on January 5, 2004.
Minister Whiteman said yesterday that fewer than 50 per cent of Government entities were totally ready and that, in his view, several would never be as ready as hoped.
He said that some entities were so small that it was unlikely that they would require a staff dedicated to ATI, but would instead be guided and supported by their parent ministries or related agencies.
LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY
"What I think we have to assess at that time (January 2006) is the level of satisfaction and the level of efficiency in the operations of the Act to the extent to which people are making applications and receiving them on time and what steps we need to correct or improve where there are deficiencies," the Information Minister said.
During his statement, Minister Whiteman said the Government had decided against any amendment to the law at this time, despite an agreement with the Opposition that changes would be made to the legislation if necessary.
Prior to the enactment of the legislation, Parliament had agreed that amendments would be made if critical entities were unable to fulfil their obligations within the first 18 months of implementation.
According to the Information Minister, the Government has opted to seek "as far as humanly possible" to facilitate all applications although "a significant majority of government entities are currently not technically equipped to respond optimally to applications."
Senator Whiteman also revealed that an index of entities subject to the legislation would be published next week.
The Access to Information Act allows citizens to request and receive any government documents except for those related to specified areas such as national security and the privacy of individuals.
