Freedom of Information

Like a street mugger this government thrives on lurking in the dark and the shadows, as it commits its crimes– the war in Iraq, ID Cards Act, the list goes on – now it is proposing curtailing even the single candle of light that gave us access to information to make our own minds up – The Freedom of Information Act.

The Government review of the Freedom of Information Act has brought up two main proposed amendments:

1. The first proposed amendment roughly translates as, they’ll spend some time shuffling paper around deciding how much time it will take to shuffle paper around then refuse the request because it’ll take too long to do the combined shuffling of paper or even the thinking about shuffling paper. Or in other words request can only cost a combined total of £600 (for government departments - only £450 for public authorities) which would include thinking time.

2. The second proposal will allow organisations or "serial requesters" – including universities, NGO’s and newspapers to ask only four questions a year. Massively curtailing our right even to ask before being refused the information.

Full details of the proposals & further details and what people have said - from The Campaign for Freedom of Information

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Write to your MP at WriteToThem.com

WhatDoTheyKnow?

- Make requests in public for UK government information

- Explore government information that others received

The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) last consultation on the planned reforms (deadline was 21/06/07)

Results from the previous consultation period

The response from the Information Commissioner's Office (PDF)

Assistance from the OpenRights group on the DCA consultation

The petition at www.number10.gov - "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Reject the restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act proposed by the Department of Constitutional Affairs" - The Prime Ministers response

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11/04/07

FOI restrictions unnecessary, Info Commissioner says - Existing rules can do the job if used properly - Out-Law.com -The Register - The government would not need to limit the scope of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act if public authorities used existing rules properly, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said. The ICO is opposing the government's changes. The gvernment wants to limit the scope and number of FOI enquiries by changing the cost structure currently in place. In response to a consultation process the ICO said the government's stated aims could be achieved under existing rules and that the proposed changes would make the operation of the Act more difficult.

29/03/07

Govt plans to 'neuter' FoI kicked into long grass following PG campaign - Patrick Smith, Martin Stabe, Dominic Ponsford - OnLinePressGazette - The Government has effectively kicked plans to water down the Freedom of Information Act into the long grass. The Department of Constitutional Affairs this morning announced that it will hold an additional 12-week consultation period on its proposals to amend the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Regulations. Effectively the move means that plans that had been condemned as "neutering" FoI for journalists may now be left for a new Prime Minister to decide.

25/03/07

Stop treating us like children, Lord Falconer - The Lord Chancellor professes to be the people's friend. His every cynical action disproves that - Henry Porter - The Observer - Few members of the government manage to finesse with quite the charm and affability of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer. He lectures us on Magna Carta and boasts about government openness without the slightest sign of personal unease or, for that matter, criticism. But with the announcement on the new rules concerning the Freedom of Information Act, the game is surely up. In a little-reported lecture on budget day, he said: 'The government approaches openness on the basis of improving how government operates, for the benefit of the public... the job of government is not to provide page leads for papers, but information for the citizen. Freedom of information was never considered to be a research arm for the media.' He added that openness must have a purpose. 'Openness is not an absolute good in itself. Openness is good where openness is of benefit, crucially of benefit to the public [that] governments are here to serve.'

21/03/07

'Freedom of information for public, not press' - ic-SouthLondon -

Freedom of information is mainly for the public and not the press, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer is due to say. "People not the press must be the priority. There is a right to know, not a right to tell," he is set to say. In delivering the Lord Williams of Mostyn memorial lecture, Lord Falconer also insists the Government is fully committed to openness. He will argue that the Government believes Whitehall was insufficiently open before it came to power in 1997. The public's right to know is central to openness and not the media's role in providing information, he is expected to say.

19/03/07

No fee changes for Scottish FOI after Executive review - HoldtheFrontPage staff - There are to be no changes to the fees regulations under the Freedom of Information Act in Scotland, following a review by the Scottish Executive. The announcement was made by Margaret Curran, minister for parliamentary business, who initiated the review of the operation of Freedom of Information in Scotland to assess whether any "fine-tuning" was needed.

20/02/07

MP vows to lead revolt against Parliament secrecy bill - David Rose - Online Press Gazette - An MP has pledged to lead a Commons revolt over a controversial attempt to exempt Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act. A private members bill, introduced by former Tory chief whip David Maclean, would, if it becomes law, prevent journalists and others from using FoI requests to obtain information contained in MPs' correspondence with government departments and other public bodies.

15/02/07

MPs seek special exemption from FoI laws - Robert Verkaik - CPBF - MPs are pressing for a special exemption from new powers that they brought in seven years ago in a popular attempt to open up government to public scrutiny. A private members' Bill introduced by a former Tory whip and considered by a Commons committee today will stop the public from using the Freedom of Information Act to find out how their MPs run their private offices.

09/02/07

NUJ condemns MPs’ attack on Freedom of Information - National Union of Journalists - NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear has added the union’s voice to the chorus of protest over the latest threat to the Freedom of Information Act. On 7 February, a Commons Committee of parliament approved a bill titled, the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill that, if passed, will exempt all forms of correspondence between a member of parliament and a public body from the Freedom of Information Act.

08/02/07

Cross-party motion highlights MPs' concern over FOI proposal - Sarah Lagan - Press Gazette - Journalists have been urged to encourage their local MPs to back a cross-party early day motion opposing government proposals to water down the Freedom of Information Act.

MPs at odds over freedom of information - David Hencke - The Guardian - MPs are at loggerheads over the future direction of freedom of information laws, with some seeking to exempt parliament from the regulations and others trying to prevent the government from curbing the scope of the legislation.

Proposed FOI changes could see campaigning papers 'punished' - The South Wales Argus - Holdthefrontpage.co.uk - The Govenment has been warned that curbing the Freedom of Information Act could encourage authorities to refuse to hand over information to campaigning newspapers. The warning was made in the House of Commons by Islwyn MP Don Touhig, when he spearheaded an all-party revolt over proposals which would lead to less information being disclosed under the act in future

MPs weigh into freedom debate - Manchester Evening News - A campaign has been launched by MPs to block government plans to make it more difficult for newspapers such as the Manchester Evening News to probe Whitehall and town halls. In the Commons, Labour MP Don Touhig said plans to amend the Freedom Of Information Act would severely damage it.

Freedom Of Information Act Scuppered By Own Success - Rhys Wilcox - The Slant - Ministers are looking at a bill that will exempt MPs from public scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act. The FoI has been in effect for two years and has been responsible for cutting through a swathe of statistics, generalisations and misinformation. Rather than the broad sweeps of the all-encompassing arm of blame stating how bad departments in the public sector have been, information has been released to be able point the more specific finger of accusation at the underachievers. The dirtiest hospital, the most ineffective police, the chaviest school and the most liberal expenses-claiming politicians have all been outed recently.

31/01/07

Lord chancellor gives warning on secrecy · Letter shows cabinet split on freedom of information · Bill to exempt MPs 'would damage public confidence' - David Hencke - The Guardian - The lord chancellor has warned ministers that exempting MPs from freedom of information inquiries will damage public confidence in the principles of open government. A leaked letter from Lord Falconer, seen by the Guardian, shows that the cabinet is split on whether to back a private member's bill to exempt parliament and MPs' correspondence from the Freedom of Information Act. Jack Straw, Margaret Beckett and Peter Hain want to back the bill so it can be debated by parliament.

26/01/07

Putting a Price On Our Freedom - Leicester Mercury - Your right to know is under threat by cost-cutting moves to restrict the freedom of information act. campaigner Maurice Frankel reports. The Government thinks we know too much about it. Only two years after bringing the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act fully into force, ministers have decided to severely cut back the right to know. The Government says it is merely targeting the more expensive requests, to keep costs down. But the Act itself costs only £35 million a year. The cuts are supposed to save just under £12 million annually, a tiny sum in Government terms. After all, the National Audit Office says the Government could save £660 million by more careful purchasing of office supplies.

FOI 'should apply to newspapers' - Colin Brown - The Independent - The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act should be applied to newspapers, Jack Straw, the Leader of the House, said yesterday. The former Labour transport minister John Spellar said the FOI Act should be applied to newspapers during a debate on the act, to which Mr Straw replied: "I think that is a terrific idea."

25/01/07

Bill may allow MPs to escape FoI inquiries - David Henckek - The Guardian - A bill to exempt MPs from inquiries made under the Freedom of Information Act was sneaked through the Commons last Friday without any debate. On the day Westminster was convulsed by the revelations surrounding the dawn arrest of Ruth Turner, the senior Downing Street aide, in the cash-for-honours investigation, MPs approved on the nod the second reading of a bill to exclude parliament from the Freedom of Information Act.

Open drawer policy - The Law Gazette - As the department for constitutional affairs seeks to restrict requests made under the freedom of information Act, Derek Bedlow asks whether we are taking a backwards step. When the Freedom of Information Act 2000 was finally implemented on 1 January 2005, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, heralded it as ‘one of the most generous freedom of information regimes in the world’. Fast forward two years, however, and the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) is seeking to put limits on the number of requests that individuals can make under the Act. Has it become a victim of its own success?

08/01/07

Freedom of information? It's laughable - Philip Johnston - The Daily Telegraph - Freedom of information always seems like a good idea to opposition parties, but once in office they tend to be less generous with the information that they now control. So it has proved with Labour.

28/12/06

Ministers accused of undermining FOI laws as 30 per cent of requests rebuffed - Evening Standard - Ministers have slashed the amount of information they allow the public to know, a report has revealed. It showed that a string of Whitehall departments have tightened the secrecy surrounding their activities despite Tony Blair's promise that Labour would bring an era of open government. Among ministers whose civil servants are now refusing to answer more than half of all the questions put by the public under Labour's Freedom of Information Act are Home Secretary John Reid, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, andTrade Secretary Alistair Darling. Even Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer - the minister in charge of the freedom of information system that Mr Blair once boasted would bring 'a dramatic difference to the way Britain is governed' - has given answers to fewer than four out of ten requests for information.

04/12/06

Afraid of the daylight - Given their record, no wonder ministers want to sabotage the Freedom of Information Act - David Leigh - The Guardian - There is an old Yiddish joke about a man who murders both his parents. He says: "I should like the court to show mercy because I am an orphan." The same brazen spirit infects Tony Blair, who is busy murdering the Freedom of Information Act. He complained this week: "What's important to realise is this [FOI] generates an awful lot of work for government."

27/11/06

Blair bows to pressure over FoI consultation - The Newspaper Society - The Prime Minister today agreed to “consult very widely” over proposals to restrict use of the Freedom of Information Act. Speaking at the Newspaper Conference Annual Lunch today, for regional press political editors and their guests, Tony Blair said: “We will certainly consult you and others very widely on it”.

Ministers plan to break pledge on freedom of information - Rob Evans - The Guardian - Ministers are today accused of rushing through drastic proposals that would "neuter" the Freedom of Information Act. The government is not planning to hold a proper public consultation on the proposals, breaking a pledge made by a minister in parliament.

24/10/06

Opinion: Freedom of Information laws are under attack - Maurice Frankel - The Daily Telegraph - Use of the Freedom of Information Act could be drastically reduced as a result of sweeping restrictions proposed by ministers.

In a cost cutting move, the government has proposed making it far easier for public authorities to block requests for information. The government estimates that 1 in 8 requests which currently have to be answered would be refused on cost grounds in future.

17/10/06

FoI curbs 'rip heart out of right to know law'
· Cost cap change could bar information requests
· Organisations face limit on number of applications
David Hencke and Rob Evans - The Guardian - The government was yesterday accused of "ripping out the heart" of freedom of information legislation by proposing drastic curbs on the release of politically sensitive and controversial documents.

Freedom of Information

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