Freedom of information 'threat' revealed
Sunday, 30 July 2006 12:00 AM
The government is planning on making it more difficult for individuals to gain access to files under the Freedom of Information Act, it has been claimed.
Leaked documents from the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA), published in the Sunday Times, outline proposals to introduce a fee for future inquiries which would deter individuals from making excessive use of the system.
The paper, written by constitutional affairs secretary Lord Falconer, tackles problems the government has been facing following a number of embarrassing revelations caused by information released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
"We will be able to argue that our commitment to FOI remains unchanged. but public access rights must be balanced against other demands on public resources," Lord Falconer writes.
"It is likely individual flat fees will cost more to collect than they bring in, but their deterrent effect will inhibit many serial requesters from making numerous requests with no regard to the cost to public funds."
Any attempt to enforce payments upon the general public is likely to be met with fierce political opposition which will highlight recent failings within the government agency running the FOI legislation.
The office of the FOI commissioner was forced to name itself as having contravened the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year after repeatedly failing to follow up requests for information from the Friends of the Earth environmental organisation.
Further criticism was attracted one month ago when the constitutional affairs select committee criticised long delays in the processing of requests for information by the office.
It called for a rapid improvement in the management of digital records and a change in the structure of the office of the FOI commissioner by switching its accountability from the DCA to parliament.
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