The High Court has today upheld the use of a ministerial veto to block the disclosure of Prince Charles’ correspondence with government departments. The Upper Tribunal had ruled that the government was required to disclose this correspondence to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. That decision was vetoed. The High Court has today dismissed the Guardian’s judicial review of that veto.
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The identity of people making FOI requests would be made public if a new private member’s bill succeeds. The bill, which will have serious implications for the privacy of individual requesters, is being introduced by Karl McCartney, the Conservative MP for Lincoln, who came 8th in the ballot for bills. [Update: in the event Mr McCartney did not attend the House of Commons to move his bill, which has therefore not been introduced.]
Has your MP signed the Parliamentary motion calling on the Government not to proceed with its proposals to make it easier for public authorities to refuse Freedom of Information requests on cost grounds?
More freedom of information (FOI) requests are likely to be refused as vexatious, following official guidance issued last week. But the change removes the government’s case for introducing more fundamental and damaging restrictions to the FOI Act, says the Campaign for Freedom of Information. The Campaign is calling on the government to drop the proposals.
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The Campaign has written to the Justice minister Lord McNally urging the government to drop its proposals to make it easier for public authorities to refuse FOI requests on costs grounds. The Campaign says the proposals are now redundant in light of recent decisions of the Upper Tribunal and new guidance published by the Information Commissioner which allow requests causing a disproportionate burden to be refused as vexatious.
Update 17/06/2013: Lord McNally has replied to the Campaign saying he agrees that recent case law on vexatious requests helps address the problem of disproportionately burdensome requests. The letter confirms the government is assessing the options to reduce the burden of FOI that were contained in its response to the Justice Committee’s post-legislative scrutiny of the FOI Act, before consulting on proposals later in the summer.
The Information Commissioner should clamp down on authorities which make requesters wait months before replying to their freedom of information (FOI) requests, according to the Campaign for Freedom of Information.
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On 5 February 2013, the Justice Committee held a one-off evidence session on the work of the Information Commissioner’s Office. The session provided an opportunity for the Committee to hear the ICO’s views on the Government’s proposals to make it easier for authorities to FOI refuse requests on costs grounds and revise its policy on use of the ministerial veto.
Freedom of information laws ‘should be extended to private companies’ – STV – 31.01.13
Freedom of information laws should be extended to private companies contracted to provide public services, the Scottish Information Commissioner has said. Such a move will ensure accountability and transparency where large sums of tax-payers’ money are involved, Rosemary Agnew said.
The government is planning to amend the Freedom of Information Act to make it easier for authorities to refuse requests on cost grounds. The changes could have serious implications for requesters.