by Parliamentary Select Committees. Much of the business of government is necessarily confidential and, as the Prime Minister said in Parliament in October 1985, there is no reason to believe that a Freedom of Information Act would give a better result in terms of accountability of the Government to Parliament and the electorate. 255. There is another category of information which is not normally released: information whose release would not be in the interests of national security. Official secrets 256. The Official Secrets Act 1989 abolishes the much criticized blanket protection for official information provided by section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. It also abolishes the offence under that Act of receiving official information unlawfully disclosed. 257. The purpose of the 1989 Act is to limit the protection of official information to those areas for which criminal sanctions are absolutely necessary, that is, security and intelligence, defence, international relations, foreign confidences, crime and special investigation powers. In CCPR/C/58/Add.6 page 58 almost all circumstances, unauthorized disclosure is an offence only if a specific test of harm is met and the person concerned knew that it would be harmful. It is for the jury alone to decide whether a particular disclosure meets the relevant harm test and to determine all other matters under the Act. Blasphemy 258. The old criminal law on blasphemy has seldom been used; the last public prosecution in England and Wales was in 1921 and the last private one in 1977. Blasphemy and its written form, blasphemous libel, are common law offences; that is, their scope and definition are the result of successive judgements in the courts. The courts have held them to consist of using language which is scurrilous, abusive or offensive and which tends to 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing legal and political issues related to government transparency, secrecy, and criminal law. It mentions specific laws and acts, such as the Freedom of Information Act, the Official Secrets Act, and the blasphemy laws. This suggests that the text is more focused on the governance and legal aspects rather than specific sectors like economy, education, or healthcare.

**Category**
Government, Law and Politics