Save our FOI

I've caught onto this a little late, what with being 4,500 feet up a hill in the middle of Central Africa, but the Press Gazette has launched a campaign against the Government's plans to change the Freedom of Information Act.

The Act seemed like manna from heaven for journalists when it was passed in 2000, offering access to information held by public authorities and thereby ushering in a new era of transparency.

In practice it has not quite that easy. Requests often take a long time to be answered and are sometimes turned down for reasons of cost, or because they are designated 'vexatious'. Nonetheless, intelligent use of FOI was developing into one of the most useful arrows in the reporter's quiver.

Now the Government intends to amend the Act to allow authorities wider scope for turning down requests on grounds of cost. By the government's own estimate, this will result in roughly 17,000 extra refusals per year, out of 100,000 total requests. For the arithmetically challenged, that's a whopping 17%.

Needless to say, the real target of these proposals are journalists, who are no doubt a wearying irritant to those civil servants who are tasked with handling FOI inquiries. But is laughable to turn around seven years on and complain that journalists are using the Act too much. 'Sorry chaps, did we say transparent? We meant fuzzy.'

So if you believe you have the right to know how efficiently your council manages its waste, what the new footbridge cost, or even how much the mayor spent on toilet paper last year, please join the Press Gazette campaign, 'Don't Kill FOI'.