• refused to comply with part of the Ombudsman's recommendation that the government release details of gifts given to ministers


• issued a certificate preventing the Ombudsman seeing papers of cabinet committees dealing with the passage of the Human Rights Act


• issued another certificate blocking disclosure of information about ministerial conflicts of interest on the grounds that it would be "contrary to the public interest".

Maurice Frankel, the Director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said:

"The Government is putting two fingers up to the open government code and the Ombudsman. Instead of preparing for a shift to a more open regime under the Freedom of Information Act it is adopting tactics of delay and obstruction under the existing non-statutory openness code. At a time of plummeting public trust in government, it takes remarkable degree of stubborn short-sightedness to overrule the Ombudsman and insist on still more secrecy".

The three cases are included in a report published on July 10 by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, on Access to Official Information investigations completed between November 2002 and June 2003 (HC 951).

Further information:

Maurice Frankel 020 7831 7477

Notes

The Ombudsman's report is available at
http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/pca/document/aoi03nj/index.htm