Freedom of Information Act - more time to oppose restrictions

Last year the government proposed limiting the amount of public expenditure that can be spent on FOI requests - proposing to amend the fee regulations. It has just announced that it is to extend the consultation process to allow more time for opinions to be heard on this issue.

The Government commissioned an "independent" report from a thinktank called "frontier economics" whose Directors are narrowly drawn from the business sector - rather than from the voluntary sector and civil society.

The various reports and consultation documents are available on the Department of Constitutional Affairs website:
www.dca.gov.uk/foi/reference/constitutionalAffairsCommittee.htm
and here:
www.dca.gov.uk/consult/dpr2007/cp2806.htm

Some of the reasons why this measure should be opposed are set out by Heather Brooke on
her blog, Your Right to Know:
www.yrtk.org/2007/foi-consultation-submission/#more-447

It is important that people object to the restrictions, which will make an already weak Act toothless.