Updates to Public Access to Information Act have gone before Parliament.

It includes a cutting down of the response time for public authorities to give information.

Michael Dunkley told MPs there had been 75 Pati requests so far: 15 have been directed at the Bermuda Police Service. Six have been made to the Department of Child and Family Services; five have gone to the Cabinet Office.

The numbers do not include requests made to quangos, the Premier said.

Opposition MP Walton Brown voiced support from the Progressive Labour Party but said more amendments were needed.

Information that would only be released anyway should simply be automatically released, Mr Brown said, and the right to make Pati requests should be extended to people or organisations outside Bermuda.

The Island “has been a secretive society for centuries”, Mr Brown said, with a culture of withholding information.

Mr Dunkley agreed that as the Government “irons out the kinks”, Pati could be extended to queries from abroad.

“That is certainly an option that we will consider,” he said.

Mr Brown also suggested stronger penalties for persons who broke the rules of the Act, noting that “there was a breach of confidentiality” not long after Pati had been enacted.

“What’s disturbing is it came after an extensive period of training and an extensive debate,” Mr Brown said.

“We would like to see stiffer penalties for those who engage in wilful violations of legislation.”