Time to rein in my freedom law, says Straw Daniel Martin
JACK Straw yesterday called for the Freedom of Information Act to be rewritten to protect the secrecy of Government decision-making.
The Labour politician passed the Act in 2000 when he was home secretary. But he now believes it has made ministers and civil servants reluctant to put their deliberations on paper for fear of seeing them published later.
Documents like the NHS risk register, which the FOI Tribunal last month ordered the Government to disclose, should be protected from exposure in order to allow ministers to think through the potential dangers of legislation, he said.
Although he ‘loyally voted with my party’ when Labour demanded the publication of the risk register, Mr Straw yesterday told the Commons justice committee: ‘It has to be possible for officials to say to ministers “There are these risks” without them going public...
‘That sort of information must be, in my view, protected.’ Mr Straw told the committee that sections 35 and 36 of the Act should be ‘clarified’ to grant a blanket exemption from disclosure for information relating to the formulation of government policy, ministerial communications and law officers’ advice and to avoid inhibiting the free and frank exchange of views within government.
He defended the Government’s use of its veto to prevent the publication of minutes of the Cabinet meeting which approved war in Iraq, insisting such discussions must remain secret.