21-Oct-2015

FOI act review

Submit your views to the FOI Commission

After sitting for 3 months, the Commission on Freedom of Information has finally invited the public to submit evidence to it.

The Campaign for Freedom of Information together with ARTICLE 19 held a briefing meeting in London on Wednesday 21 October for those proposing to respond to the consultation. See slides from the presentation, which consider the consultation questions in turn.

The consultation paper suggests the Commission is considering sweeping restrictions to the FOI Act, including:

• imposing charges for requests
• making it easier to refuse requests on cost grounds
• making it more difficult to obtain public authorities’ internal discussions, or excluding some from access altogether
• strengthening ministers’ powers to veto disclosures
• changing the way the Act is enforced.

The case for strengthening the Act is not on the agenda.
We are strongly encouraging people to respond to the consultation drawing on their own experience of the value of the FOI Act. The deadline for responses is midnight on 20 November. 

Our Stop FOI restrictions page has further information on the key issues.