There was a short debate in the Lords on 9 March 2010 on the Government’s response to the 30 year rule review, following a question by Lord Lester.

Asked By Lord Lester of Herne Hill

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recommendations in Review of the 30 Year Rule, chaired by Paul Dacre and published in January 2009.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): My Lords, the Government published their response to Review of the 30 Year Rule to Parliament and the general public on 25 February 2010. A copy of the response is available in the Library of the House. The Government also tabled an amendment to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill on the same day to bring forward the legislation necessary to implement the change to the 30-year rule and other key proposals set out in the response.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: My Lords, I greatly welcome the Government’s response, both in their paper and in securing amendments that we hope will survive any wash-up and become law. My concern is whether the Government, having willed the end, have also willed the means. The Dacre report, as the Minister will know, recommended that the Government should make adequate additional provision in the 2011 to 2014 period and subsequent Comprehensive Spending Reviews for all records-related activities in the way that was spelled out. As I understand it-the Minister will correct me if I am wrong-the Government have rejected the notion of any additional resources. Will that not undermine the whole operation?

Lord Bach: My Lords, first things first. I am grateful to the noble Lord for his support. This is in a Bill that is to come before this House in a couple of weeks’ time and then we will see what happens to it. I have no doubt that all its parts will be widely accepted around the House-certainly this part will. As to the future, we will see. We have made an impact assessment, which estimates a total cost of between £50 million and £80 million over a 10-year transition period. We shall work with central government and the wider archive sector to ensure that transition to the new rule can be achieved in the most cost-effective manner.

Full debate in Hansard.

8 March 2010

The Scottish Information Commissioner today [8 March 2010] told Scotland’s public authorities that they must “think FOI” if they are to minimise the impact of freedom of information requests. The call coincides with data, published in the Commissioner’s 2009 Annual Report, which shows that the number of FOI appeals made to the Commissioner increased by 15% over the last year, and that two-thirds of the decisions he issued found that a public authority had breached FOI law in some way.

Marking the launch of his 2009 Annual Report, Kevin Dunion, the Scottish Information Commissioner, said:

“2009 saw a significant increase in the number of appeals I received. The effect of the recession on public spending may well mean even more requests for information being made by people concerned about public authority decisions which affect services, funding or jobs.

“It is therefore essential that public authorities take steps to make sure they can more readily comply with FOI, giving people the information they want, while minimising the impact on public authority resources. Key to this is assuming information will be released. When staff create information, they should be aware that their reports, emails and notes may one day be released under FOI. All too often, a public authority’s reluctance to disclose is less about the actual content of the information, and more about the manner in which staff have expressed themselves. By encouraging staff at all levels to “think FOI”, public authorities can encourage a more professional approach to internal, as well as external, communications – making it far easier to contemplate release.”

Alongside the 15% increase in applications, the Commissioner’s Annual Report also reveals that:

• 73% of the applications received by the Commissioner in 2009 came from members of the public;

• the Commissioner found that a public authority had breached the law in some way in two thirds of the appeals that were made to him;

• the average age of cases being dealt with by the Commissioner continued to decline during 2009, meaning that individual applications are being resolved more quickly. The average age of cases closed during 2009 was 5.3 months, down from 6.7 months in 2008 and 10 months in 2007;

• enquiries to the Commissioner’s Office from people seeking advice on using FOI also increased significantly, with a 16% increase on 2008 volumes.

The 2009 Report, which also celebrates the first five years of FOI in Scotland, is being presented electronically for the first time through an interactive website. Additional features in the report include video commentary, interactive tables, user stories, and detailed chronologies charting the development of FOI in Scotland over its first five years. Hard copies of the report will be available by contacting the Commissioner’s office on 01334 464610.

The full report can be viewed online at www.itspublicknowledge.info/ask

Regulator slammed over GCSE marking – Press Association 28/02/10
“GCSE science pupils may have missed out on top grades after the exam regulator made a late change to marking boundaries to avoid a row over grade inflation, it has emerged. Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that last summer Ofqual, the independent body set up by Schools Secretary Ed Balls, was given predictions of a big jump in science results. On August 10, just two days before the grades were finalised, Ofqual chief executive Isabel Nisbet wrote to exam board officials saying the increases would be ‘difficult for the regulators to justify and for all of us to defend’. It was agreed that the independent awarding bodies that set and mark papers should ‘change their grade boundaries in order to improve the national position’.” See also ‘Move the goalposts and nobody can score’ The Sunday Times 28/2/10

BT ‘responsible for own £8.8bn pensions gap’ – FT 28/2/10
“BT’s £8.8bn pension deficit is almost entirely of its own making because it failed to make adequate contributions and took big risks with its investment strategy, according to documents submitted by its rivals to Ofcom, the regulator… Mr Ralfe also found, through a freedom of information filing, that at privatisation in 1984, BT already had a pension shortfall of £626m. BT did not take steps to close the gap, he said. Had it done so by investing funds in risk-free, index-linked gilts it would have £4.5bn more in its pension fund than it does. The research suggests BT’s pension scheme, which was conservatively invested at the time of privatisation, with a quarter of assets in bonds, took more risk over time.”

More than 17,000 episodes of troops going Awol since 2003 – Independent 20/2/10
“British soldiers have gone on the run from their posts on more than 17,000 occasions since the start of the Iraq war, The Independent can reveal. As resources for the armed forces remain stretched to cope with Britain’s commitments in Afghanistan, official figures from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) show that there were more than 2,000 cases of soldiers going absent without leave (awol) last year, with 17,470 incidents recorded since the Iraq invasion in 2003. The internal Government statistics, released to The Independent under the Freedom of Information Act, show that 375 soldiers remained at large at the end of last year, although MoD sources insisted that the figure has since fallen.”

University buildings ‘unfit for purpose’, database reveals – Building Design 16/02/10
“University buildings across the country were condemned as “unfit for purpose” or “at serious risk of major failure” in a secret database obtained by the Guardian newspaper. The database was compiled two years ago by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to allow universities to compare the quality of their estates with their rivals. The Guardian, which revealed its findings today, spent two years fighting for access to the report using Freedom of Information legislation.” See also ‘Cracks show at universities’ The Guardian 16/2/10

Trusts ‘failing over safety alerts’ – Loughborough Echo.net 16/02/10
“Hundreds of health trusts have failed to take action on patient safety alerts issued to tackle problems which cause injury or death, a report has said. The study by Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) found that 300 trusts in England, around three quarters of the total, had not complied with at least one patient safety alert although the deadline had passed. It obtained the data, which covers 53 patient safety alerts issued between 2004 and 2009, from the Department of Health via a Freedom of Information request in December. The alerts are issued by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) and require NHS trusts to take action on certain problems. They included one on injectable medicines which was issued after 25 deaths and 28 cases of serious harm were reported between January 2005 and June 2006.”

Primary Care Trusts Cut Funding For GP Out-Of-Hours Services – Medical News Today 11/02/10
“Primary care trusts are cutting investment in out-of-hours services by driving down contract payments, in a move that has raised concerns over its impact on the quality of care. Almost two-thirds of those PCTs able to provide details on contract retendering said they were reducing the amount they pay to out-of-hours providers, a Pulse investigation reveals. The GP committee of the BMA said the contract data, released to Pulse under the Freedom of Information Act, demonstrated the pressing need for a ‘reprioritisation’ of investment in out-of-hours care.”

Heathrow airport expansion e-mails investigated – BBC 7/2/10
“The Department for Transport (DfT) is facing an “intensive investigation” over claims e-mails about the expansion of Heathrow Airport were deleted. The exchanges with airport operator BAA were requested by a Conservative MP under the Freedom Of Information Act, who said she then spotted gaps. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed it would examine the 2007 e-mails about the third runway.”

Complaints of prison racism rise among staff and inmates – The Guardian 07/02/10
“Prison officers are more than twice as likely to be reported for racism than prisoners, according to new government figures showing alleged racist incidents across the prison estate have risen by a quarter. Ministry of Justice complaints data reveals a steady rise in alleged racist incidents at the 139 prisons in England and Wales. The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, are likely to add to concern over extremism in prisons. They come as prison staff express concern over growing sympathy for the British National party among colleagues. The figures show there have been 46,000 complaints by staff and prisoners that were categorised as racist since 2006. By 2008 there were 14,191 complaints about alleged racism in prisons, a 25% increase on 2006, when there were 11,389.”

Prince Charles’ aide accused of new bid to wreck plans for Chelsea barracks – Daily Mail 6/2/10
“The Prince of Wales was facing fresh accusations last night of sabotaging the controversial £1billion redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks. It was revealed that his most senior aide took part in a key discussion with the owners of the site  –  members of the Qatari royal family  –  and councillors from the Westminster planning authority. Just days later an ultra-modern plan for the site, designed by leading architect Lord Rogers, was scrapped…Last night Clarence House denied that Sir Michael voiced any opinions at the meeting. It insisted he rang off when he realised the nature of the meetingand that it was ‘not appropriate’ for him to be involved.”

Disabled students wait for specialist equipment grants – BBC 5/2/10
“Almost 12,500 students in England are still waiting for grants to pay for specialist equipment, figures from the Student Loans Company show. The statistics reveal two thirds of students with a disability or special needs are still waiting for money. The figures were obtained by the Conservatives following a Freedom of Information request…Of the 19,006 eligible DSA applications, only 6,507 have been fully processed and approved by the SLC. This means that, almost four months after term started, only 34% of eligible applications have been processed.”

MPs book House banqueting rooms for lobbyists to entertain clients – The Times 5/2/10
“Parliament’s exclusive banqueting facilities have been made available by MPs to outside bodies with which they have financial links. MPs from all parties booked dining rooms on behalf of organisations from which they received payments in recent years, information released yesterday shows. The list of bodies using the facilities, which are available only if booked by Members, also reveals the extent to which lobbyists use the Commons to entertain clients.”

British government ordered to reveal Iraq war legal advice – Belfast telegraph 02/02/10
“The British government’s most senior legal advisers broke the law by refusing to tell The Independent who was given crucial advice about the treatment of prisoners during the war in Iraq, the Freedom of Information watchdog has ruled.”

Reveal Ashcroft’s status, officials told – Independent 1/2/10
“Cabinet officials have been told they must end the secrecy surrounding a promise made a decade ago when Michael Ashcroft, the billionaire vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, was awarded a life peerage. As a condition for taking his place in the House of Lords, Mr Ashcroft promised to end his tax-exile status and become a UK resident, but in the intervening 10 years, he has refused to say whether he has kept that undertaking…But the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, has now ordered the Cabinet Office to release the information it holds about the private exchanges that took place before Lord Ashcroft was made a peer.”

Regional

Shame of no-show Welsh ambulance patients – Daily Post 26/02/10
“Thousands of patients weren’t home when ambulances or taxis turned up to take them to hospital appointments. The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust revealed that on average in Wales 2,870 patients a month aren’t home or have made alternative arrangements to get to hospital when ambulances turn up. The staggering figure was released by the ambulance trust after a Daily Post Freedom of Information request, following a string of complaints about ambulances or taxis being late or failing to turn up. At present the ambulance trust’s Patient Care Services doesn’t have a computerised booking and planning system and can’t say how many patients missed appointments because of late ambulances.”

Ten wasted years: Revealed…scathing report on the Sugden Mill fiasco – Halifax Courier 17/2/10
“Council officials have wasted ten years on a stalled multi-million town-centre scheme, according to an explosive new report. Brighouse could be enjoying new shops and a swimming pool if the Sugden Mill project had been handled better, says the internal council dossier. Details secured by the Courier under the Freedom of Information Act show the council squandered a decade on plans and planning inquiries – and was finally forced to admit defeat after an ill-prepared £3.7 million compulsory purchase order…The report blasts the council for failing to put any formal arrangements in place to manage the project and said there was no evidence that legal or financial advice was sought.”

Sex offenders in the Thames Valley reported missing – BBC 15/02/10
“Six sex offenders, including four paedophiles, have been missing from the Thames Valley for up to eight years, figures obtained by BBC News reveal. Three are thought to be abroad, the figures released under freedom of information laws show. All of those missing pose a low risk of reoffending, a Thames Valley Police spokeswoman said. She said the force could never guarantee offenders would not re-offend while in the community.”

Coventry Refugee Centre fears over surge in child asylum seekers – Coventry Telegraph 09/02/10
“The number of lone children seeking asylum in the West Midlands has rocketed by 700 per cent in six years. In 2002 there were 42 children receiving care from councils in the region, but that figure had risen to 306 by 2008. The figures were revealed through a Freedom of Information request amid claims that local authority budgets were under strain to look after the children who had fled to the UK from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Cops swell DNA database by 56k in three years – Daily Gazette 01/02/10
“Essex Police has taken DNA samples from more than 56,000 people in three years, newly released figures show. The force collected DNA from 17,592 last year, down from 18,432 in 2008 and the 20,015 samples taken in 2007. The figures only emerged after new Chief Constable Jim Barker-McCardle overturned a decision to block a Freedom of Information Act request. Essex Police was one of three forces in England and Wales that refused to answer the request, leading to Mr Barker-McCardle apologising last month. He said that while staff had been right to refuse the request because of the number of hours it would take to respond, the sensitivity of the subject meant he would like the information to be released.”


Scotland

Salmond’s secret talks on Scottish Water sell-off – The Herald 28/02/10
“First Minister Alex Salmond and finance secretary John Swinney have held secret meetings about the possible sale of Scottish Water with the Australian company which owns Thames Water. An inquiry using Freedom of Information laws has disclosed that Mr Salmond and Mr Swinney held at least two meetings with the Australian banking group Macquarie dating back as far as 2008. The meetings cast further doubt on the SNP government’s insistence that the sell-off of Scottish Water is not on the agenda. The SNP has recently been embroiled in controversy over the future of Scottish Water. The Sunday Herald has reported that the Scottish Futures Trust is looking at alternative models for future ownership of Scottish Water and is considering whether it should be sold off. Although the SNP has insisted that privatisation is not an option, it is now clear that two of the country’s most senior ministers were exploring a change in ownership in parallel to the review.”

Salmond accused of trying to rig independence referendum – The Times 22/02/10
“The Scottish government was accused today of trying to rig an independence referendum after it emerged that the Electoral Commission raised concerns about the planned running of the plebiscite.(…) E-mails between the government and the commission obtained by the BBC under freedom of information law reveal the commission’s concerns over the wording of the proposed question to be put to the electorate and fears that the timescale was too short. The commission also expressed concern over the proposed new body to oversee the vote: “There seems little regard to the remit and role of what the Scottish Referendum Commission would actually do,” it stated.”


Natural heritage body suffers crisis of confidence – The Herald 21/2/10
“The Government agency tasked with protecting Scotland’s precious wildlife and landscapes is in deep trouble, according to internal documents obtained by the Sunday Herald. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has suffered a severe and escalating crisis of confidence and has lost the support of its staff, the papers show. There is growing concern that nature conservation is slipping down the agenda of senior managers and Scottish ministers. The latest survey of SNH’s 900 staff reveals that only a third of them have confidence in the organisation’s future, or in its top management. And only a little more than half believe their employer deserves their loyalty…The results of the survey, conducted in 2008, were released by SNH last week under freedom of information legislation.”

SPT chief executive and vice chair resign – BBC 18/2/10
“Scotland’s largest transport authority has been hit by a third resignation amid an ongoing row over expenses. South Lanarkshire Labour councillor Davie McLachlan stepped down as vice chair of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) on Thursday. He follows Ron Culley who resigned earlier as chief executive, and Glasgow Labour councillor Alistair Watson who stepped down as chairman on Monday. Financial watchdog Audit Scotland is to investigate expense claims at SPT. The row which led to the resignations flared after expense claims from SPT officials were reported following a Freedom of Information request.”

Council’s ‘face £300million in cuts’ – STV News 10/2/10
“Councils are facing cuts of £300million next year, according to Labour. Finance Secretary John Swinney will set out the £11.8billion split on Wednesday that Scotland’s 32 councils will each get as part of next year’s Budget. But as public spending tightens, Labour say responses to a Freedom of Information request reveals cuts of almost £300million across councils in 2010/11…Labour’s figures indicate that cuts are planned in the number of teachers, classroom assistants, janitors, workshop technicians and cleaning staff. Library opening hours, roads maintenance, resurfacing and gritting budgets are also in line to be reduced. South Ayrshire Council is looking at “reducing the workforce” to help find savings of £7million, while Highland has set a savings target of £11.49million in education and £5.01million in social work. But the claims were branded “factually incorrect and grossly hypocritical” by a spokesman for Mr Swinney.”

International


Poland accused over rendition – FT 23/2/10
Poland was involved in the CIA’s rendition programme in which terrorism suspects were transported, according to flight records obtained by human rights groups and made public yesterday. Records obtained from Polish air traffic control under a freedom of information request by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in collaboration with the Open Society Justice Initiative indicate that at least six US flights landed at Szymany airfield, which is close to the Kiejkuty military base, suspected of being the location of a CIA detention site where prisoners were held in secret.Warsaw has for years denied involvement in the US programme.

More than 65,000 US flights should have been grounded newspaper study finds – The Times 3/2/10
“More than 65,000 flights have taken off from US airports in the past six years when they should have been grounded because of incomplete or improper maintenance, according to an investigation that sheds new light on hundreds of deaths including that of a mechanic “ingested” by a jet engine… The Air Transport Association, which represents the largest American airlines, claimed that its members had not suffered a single fatal accident because of shoddy maintenance since January 1, 2001. However, the newspaper’s analysis of National Transportation Safety Board data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act found that maintenance was a “cause, factor or finding” in 19 accidents since that date.”

The Ministry of Justice has published details of the changes it plans to make to the FOI statistics published in the ‘Annual report on freedom of information in central government’.

These changes relate to concerns that the Campaign for Freedom of Information has been raising with the MoJ for some time (see ‘Delays in investigating Freedom of Information Complaints’) and which it recently highlighted in a response to a consultation by the UK Statistics Authority.

The Campaign has been concerned that:

• published statistics on time taken to carry out public interest test (PIT) reviews present the most delayed cases as a single class of those taking an extension of “more than 40 working days” with no further breakdown of the actual extensions involved.

• statistics on the time taken for internal reviews (IRs) present the most delayed cases in a single class of those taking “more than 60 working days”, again with no further breakdown

• cases which are not complete by February of the following year are not included in either the current year’s statistics or those relating to the following year, so that many of the most delayed cases are not dealt with in the statistics at all.

The new MOJ statistical note states:

5. Currently the freedom of information monitoring statistics report on those public interest test extensions and internal reviews where the initial request was first received during the year, and the PIT or IR had been completed by the time the annual statistics are collected (usually in the February of the following year).

6. Data on the durations of PITs and IRs are collected in a number of time bands (e.g. “5 working days or less”, “between 6 and 10 working days”, etc).  The uppermost time band for the duration of PITs is “more than 40 working days”, while the uppermost time band for the duration of IRs is “more than 60 working days”.  No data is gathered on the durations of those PITs and IRs which had not been completed by the time the annual statistics are collected.

7. The specific changes that will be made to the durations data are:

   a) Further time bands for durations of PITs and IRs will be added, so that the uppermost time band in each case is “more than 100 working days”.

   b) New statistics will be collected from each monitored body on the eventual durations of those PITs and IRs which were recorded as being ongoing in the previous year’s annual statistics.

The Campaign welcomes both changes. However, it remains concerned that, despite the additional information, details of the most seriously delayed cases will still not be adequate. One internal review is known to have taken 29 months. Even under the new statistics, such extreme delays will not be properly identified but merely included in the category of cases taking more than 100 working days.

Former Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has given evidence to the Science and Technology Committee’s inquiry into the disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.

Q56 Chairman: We welcome in our second panel, seamlessly, Richard Thomas, the former Information Commissioner. Thank you very much indeed for joining us this afternoon. You recommended that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 should be amended so that a prosecution could be brought within six months of evidence of the offence coming to the attention of the Commissioner’s knowledge. We have heard reference to this in the previous panel. Why do you consider that such a change should be made?

Mr Thomas: Thank you for your welcome, Chairman. I am happy to assist the Committee to the best of my ability. If I could answer your question in context, I have put a written submission to the Committee which, I think, is on your website. I set out that I might be able to help you with the rationales and the policy objectives of the legislation and its application in practice. I have outlined how the Act works and its application in general and in particular. This situation we are dealing with now may well engage the Environmental Information Regulations as much as the Freedom of Information Act, but they are broadly similar, with some important differences. I concluded my submission to you by making three suggestions. One was that the six-month limit for criminal prosecution under section 77 should be changed. That was your question. Secondly, I made some suggestions in relation to the Muir Russell review and, thirdly, suggested there might be more proactive disclosure of publicly funded research. On the question of the six-month limit, I set out in my memorandum at section 77 of the Act and the corresponding regulation 19 in the Environmental Information Regulations the only part with a criminal sanction and, in my view, a very important part of legislation, designed to prevent the destruction, the alteration, the suppression of information once a request has been made, but I set out in my submission there are three really quite key issues here. First of all, it is only information to which the applicant is entitled; so it is only if none of the exemptions, for example, apply and information would have been discloseable under the legislation that the offence is committed; secondly, there has to be the intention of preventing disclosure under the legislation, and proving intent in this situation is always going to be difficult; and, thirdly, because of the interaction with the Magistrates Court Act, any prosecution must be brought within six months of the offence being committed, and I think it is that which perhaps caught the public’s attention towards the end of January, that latter part; but I made the point in my submission that this is not a new issue, in fact, it surfaced during a debate on the Coroners and Justice Bill in 2009 when certain amendments to information laws were being made at that time, and I outline in my submission how Lord Dubs had tabled an amendment in the House of Lords during the course of the consideration of that Bill proposing that, as in other areas of regulatory life, the six-month limit should be changed so that it is when it comes to the attention of the Commissioner, or the prosecutor. The Commissioner is the prosecutor in this particular case.

…
Q70 Ian Stewart: That leads me to my next question. It is quite clear from the email exchanges that these scientists were exasperated. Their argument was that they just wanted to get on with their job, and one of the plaintiffs says that he did not want to deal with the hassle, he just wanted to do his job. Do you have any sympathy with the exasperations of scientists at CRU?

Mr Thomas: I think one can understand what I might call the human dimension of this, and sympathy is not the right word in this context, but I can understand perhaps why people sometimes felt exasperated. We came across public authorities in Whitehall, local authorities up and down the country with this sense of exasperation and being on the receiving end of large numbers of quite difficult cases. There is doubt about that; I can see that. At the same time, the legislation is there – there is the right to know – and in many cases the simplest approach, particularly where requests tend to generate either a defensive attitude or place a great burden on the public authority, is proactive disclosure in the first place. I often use what I call the Crown Jewels approach. Public authorities ought to decide what really has to be kept away from the public. If it is particularly sensitive or there is a good reason for withholding it, fair enough, but where there is no good reason for withholding information, then why not proactively disclose it and avoid the hassle of large numbers of requests?

Q71 Ian Stewart: We now understand the impact of hassle, as it was put by one of the correspondents.

Mr Thomas: Can I add one comment, if I you do not mind, Mr Stewart. I do not think that hassle, or whatever word we are going to use, justifies the deliberate destruction of requested information.

Q72 Ian Stewart: Can you let me ask the question and then you may come to it: because that is at the heart of the next part of the question that I want to ask you. Do you consider that what we have seen at CRU is muddle, irritation under pressure, rather than the intention to breach the Act?

Mr Thomas: I simply do not have nearly enough inside information; I have no inside information, I cannot answer that question. All that I can say is that some of the material that has surfaced in the media and elsewhere, where phrases like “hiding behind” or “please delete this particular email” to any Commissioner – myself when I was Commissioner, to the current Commissioner – is something which prima facie needs investigation because that section 77, which we discussed earlier, is a very important part of the Act. When it first came into force there were many headlines, “The shredding machines at Whitehall are working day and night”. We asked for allegations to come forward; none came forward at all. It is a very serious part of the Act, virtually every public authority stresses to its staff “Do not destroy information when it has been deleted.” I make no allegations whatsoever against the university; all I am saying is that in some of the emails that have surfaced there is prima facie evidence which I think would have required investigation had it not been for the six month limit.

An uncorrected transcript of the evidence is available here.
The memorandum submitted to the Committee by Richard Thomas is here.

The government’s announcement that it has dropped its proposal to exempt cabinet papers from the Freedom of Information Act, and that it will reduce the 30 year rule to 20 years, was welcomed by the Campaign for Freedom of Information today.

The changes follow a review of the 30 year rule by a committee chaired by Paul Dacre, managing editor of Associated News, and set up by the prime minister. In response to the review’s recommendations, the government announced that old government records would be publicly available in The National Archives after 20 years, instead of the current 30 years (though the review had called for 15-year period). But it also said it would create two new absolute exemptions to the FOI Act, one for cabinet papers and the other for the Royal Family. In neither case would the Act’s public interest test apply.

But today the government announced that it had decided that a new exemption for cabinet papers was not necessary. The 20 year period for releasing old files will be introduced. A new exemption for the Royal Family will be created.

The Campaign’s director Maurice Frankel said:

We are extremely pleased that the prime minister has decided to drop the proposed cabinet exemption. That would have ruled out the release of any paper circulated to cabinet or a cabinet committee, even if there would be no harm to decision-making or collective responsibility. Requests for such documents will now continue to be considered on their merits. Cabinet minutes may be unlikely to emerge, given the way the ministerial veto has been used so far, though that too is not entirely out of the question, particularly for older or less contentious material or where the public interest in disclosure is overwhelming. And the 20 year rule will mean old records are more likely to emerge while the events they refer to are still remembered.

The Campaign pointed out that cabinet or cabinet committee papers were protected by existing FOI exemptions for policy formulation and ministerial communications, subject to the Act’s public interest test. The government also has the power to veto decisions of the Information Commissioner or Tribunal. The veto has been used twice to date, blocking the release of cabinet minutes about the war in Iraq and cabinet committee minutes on devolution. However, the veto is judicially reviewable, which provides some safeguard against its casual use.

The new 20 year rule will be phased in over 10 years by doubling the volume of old government records released each year.

However, a new absolute exemption, which will protect information about the monarch, the heir and second in line to the throne for 20 years and then, if the individual concerned is still alive, until 5 years after their death. This exemption will not be subject to the Act’s public interest test. The Campaign said it regretted this change, and believed the public interest test should continue to apply to such matters.

For other members of the Royal Family, an exemption will apply for the same length of time but will be subject to the public interest test.

Notes

The government’s announcement is at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/docs/government-response-30-year-rule-review.pdf

The Government’s outline response to the Dacre report is set out in Gordon Brown’s ‘statement on constitutional renewal’ of 10.6.09 http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19579

The Dacre report can be found at: http://www2.nationalarchives.gov.uk/30yrr/30-year-rule-report.pdf

The latest edition of Inform, the Scottish Information Commissioner’s newsletter, has been published:

In this edition, I reflect on 5 years of FOI, and look forward to the next 5 years. I update readers on our new guidance following a recent Court of Session ruling, and report on the events my Office is holding to celebrate the 5th anniversary of FOI in Scotland.

http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/home/News/Newsletter/InformNewsletterJanFeb2010.asp

The January 2010 edition of the ICO’s e-newsletter has been published:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/enewsletter_and_alerts/previous_enewsletters/English/Edition16.aspx

The Campaign for Freedom of Information has responded to a request from the UK Statistics Authority for its views on the adequacy of the Ministry of Justice’s freedom of information monitoring statistics. The response outlines the Campaign’s concerns about the quality of the statistics describing the delays by central government in dealing with requests.

Download the response here.