Dear Mr Cayzer,

I am writing with some further comments on the White Paper on Freedom of Information.

They arise from recent correspondence with Professor Michael Rawlins, Chairman of the Committee on Safety of Medicines. This concerned a letter he had written to me, in 1987, including this statement:

"Much of what you (and I) would seek would require repeal of section 118 of the Medicines Act which is the section concerned with secrecy. A small part of individual [license] applications might be regarded as commercially confidential but the major proportion could, with little loss to anyone, be made publicly available. Similarly, I see no objection to Committee's papers being publicly available".

This seemed very important at the time, in particular the sentence where I have added italics. Although it was clearly a personal view, it was also the considered opinion of a senior member of the CSM, and I have quoted it more than once - albeit with attribution only to an unnamed member of the CSM. However, as Professor Rawlins has been Chairman of the CSM for the past five years, and because virtually nothing has changed, it seems all the more important now. Therefore I recently wrote to him to ask whether he still held that view and, if so, if I might attribute it. He has now confirmed that it is and I can. For the avoidance of doubt I am enclosing copies of the correspondence between us.

I think the main point here is pretty much self evident but, if not, you might want to refer to the full correspondence on this matter with the Medicines Control Agency, at http://www.socialaudit.org.uk/430.htm#Correspondence