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Government defends freedom of information law

Government defends freedom of information law

New freedom of information laws will produce a fundamental “culture change” within Whitehall, the Lord Chancellor has said.

Lord Falconer told journalists the Freedom of Information Act would revolutionise the relationship between the citizen and the state.

With a large amount of official information being made open to the public, Lord Falconer urged people not to rush judgement on the new rules: “I want the act to be judged on the openness of Government overall.”

“Ask yourself in 12 to 18 months, ‘Has government become more open as a result of the Freedom of Information Act? Is it now habitually the case that Government provides all the facts and figures that underlie particular decisions?

“If the answer to that is ‘yes’, it will have effected a fundamental cultural change in the way that Government operates.”

However, the Lord Chancellor warned early high-profile refusals to release information could create a “bad impression” about the new rules.

Request to see the full advice given by the attorney general on the case for war with Iraq would be mostly likely declined, the peer acknowledged.

In a separate interview with The Telegraph newspaper, the Lord Chancellor said the Government’s right to veto the disclosure of secrets would only be used with the full agreement of the Cabinet.

“Where it is used, detailed reasons have to be given to parliament and those reasons and the use of the veto are susceptible to judicial review. It would be very exceptional,” he said.

In another interview, Lord Falconer told The Guardian that extra staff and resources would be provided if there was a surge in requests for information under the new law.

The Conservatives accused the Government of destroying thousands of files ahead of the Act coming into force.

Yesterday, the opposition party described the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, as a “Government lap-dog” and urged him to consider quitting.