UK government retreats on plans to water down the Freedom of Information Act

Ministers fear legislation to weaken public's rights could be used to increase them.

Read the whole story

 

[maehara]

As someone who occasionally has to answer FOI requests: On the one hand, I'm fully onside with the FOIA's stated aim of improving transparency in government decision making.

On the other, I can't remember the last time I received one that was genuinely about transparency and policy instead of being a thinly-veiled attempt by $vendor to find out if / why we were using their competitors' products.

 

[Oelph]

maehara[/url]":37dsyciu]As someone who occasionally has to answer FOI requests: On the one hand, I'm fully onside with the FOIA's stated aim of improving transparency in government decision making.

On the other, I can't remember the last time I received one that was genuinely about transparency and policy instead of being a thinly-veiled attempt by $vendor to find out if / why we were using their competitors' products.

Absolutely. Or it's news agencies fishing for the slightest news item. It wastes a huge amount of time and money. The system is abused and I'm not surprised the media were very vocal about the proposed changes.

 

[AxMi-24]

maehara[/url]":1hs6f5v6]As someone who occasionally has to answer FOI requests: On the one hand, I'm fully onside with the FOIA's stated aim of improving transparency in government decision making.

On the other, I can't remember the last time I received one that was genuinely about transparency and policy instead of being a thinly-veiled attempt by $vendor to find out if / why we were using their competitors' products.

If government didn't act like the population is the main enemy maybe it would be different. As it is now it's very firmly us vs. them. Can't really feel sorry for any issues as despite the "misuse" that you talk about a lot of slimy shit that government does comes out.

 

[Sothis]

The freedom of information requests are vital for our democratic institutions - you wouldn't know for example about the expenses scandal if it weren't for FOI requests. Their will always be abuses of the system, that's inevitable but filtering out trivial requests is simple compared to the gains for democracy

 

[passivesmoking]

We got the right result for the wrong reasons. The system works!

 

[mrseb]

maehara[/url]":3evffcwc]As someone who occasionally has to answer FOI requests: On the one hand, I'm fully onside with the FOIA's stated aim of improving transparency in government decision making.

On the other, I can't remember the last time I received one that was genuinely about transparency and policy instead of being a thinly-veiled attempt by $vendor to find out if / why we were using their competitors' products.

Ha, that's an interesting insight.

Maybe we should do a human-interest piece... "A day in the life of a FOIA request fulfiller."

 

[pitmonster]

maehara[/url]":8kgtpoqx]On the other, I can't remember the last time I received one that was genuinely about transparency and policy

Didn't some Embassies stop FOI requests because too many people were asking about how many Ferrero Rocher the Ambassador used at his parties?

 

[paul-f]

I have never filed one myself but understood that we already do pay for them, no?

Or is the existing charge purely for resulting administrative burden and what was suggested here is an actual 'fee' on top of that?

 

[Some Idiot]

maehara[/url]":3r2p9rd4]As someone who occasionally has to answer FOI requests: On the one hand, I'm fully onside with the FOIA's stated aim of improving transparency in government decision making.

On the other, I can't remember the last time I received one that was genuinely about transparency and policy instead of being a thinly-veiled attempt by $vendor to find out if / why we were using their competitors' products.

Pretty much. But even so, it is an extremely valuable tool. I contacted my MP about this because I believe the politicians need to be held to account whilst in the office, as well as during election campaigns.

 

[glynmoody]

paul-f[/url]":13wzbt9f]I have never filed one myself but understood that we already do pay for them, no?

Or is the existing charge purely for resulting administrative burden and what was suggested here is an actual 'fee' on top of that?

No, there's no charge, but they can and do refuse if they think it will be too expense to answer.

 

[AndreaFaulds]

Sothis[/url]":3a1mofx5]The freedom of information requests are vital for our democratic institutions - you wouldn't know for example about the expenses scandal if it weren't for FOI requests. Their will always be abuses of the system, that's inevitable but filtering out trivial requests is simple compared to the gains for democracy

Wasn't the expenses scandal revealed through the illegal leaking of information to the media?

Nonetheless, I agree with you.

Edit: Seems that there was both a FoIA request and an illegal leak: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Ki ... es_scandal

 

[david newall]

maehara[/url]":11d1x4ec]As someone who occasionally has to answer FOI requests: On the one hand, I'm fully onside with the FOIA's stated aim of improving transparency in government decision making.

On the other, I can't remember the last time I received one that was genuinely about transparency and policy instead of being a thinly-veiled attempt by $vendor to find out if / why we were using their competitors' products.

Is that bad? Perhaps that might reveal egregious purchases. Sounds like a potential win for the public.