A crucial debate is being held in the House of Commons this afternoon on the Freedom of Information Act which may result in charges being made for requests. The Act has, in effect, been a victim of its own success, government has had enough.
This excellent article by Heather Brooke warns that the proposed change
to the law will allow government to aggregate campaigners, journalists, lawyers and academics according to their “legal body” and refuse requests made by the same individual or organisation if the combined cost of answering their requests exceeds the limit of £600 for central government and £450 for other public bodies. This would ration requests to possibly just one per quarter to the same authority.
If the amendment is carried, I’m wondering if it can be appealed against under the Human Rights Act, or some other legislation.
Heather describes how FoI has been invaluable for getting factual data from government on issues like the number of school pupils expelled for drugs and violence, how many of those on probation have committed violent crimes, which restaurants are failing their hygiene inspections and the details of many private finance contracts signed by public authorities.
Locally, the Cambridge Evening News used the FoI to discover the number of staff attacked at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and how more than 2,000 children were excluded from Cambridgeshire schools. Regional Tory MPs Malcolm Moss , Jim Paice and Lib Dem MP David Howarth have condemned moves to restrict any access of information.
Jim Paice believes the government is trying to close down the supply of information to newspapers and campaigners because it has become embarrassing. David Howarth describes the proposed amendment as “outrageous”.
Let’s hope we can get enough cross-party support to nail this on the head. As Heather Brooke says, “if this dim beacon of democracy is extinguished, we will have to reconsider seriously whether we can call ourselves an informed electorate.” I think we know the answer to that.
