Is review of freedom law a stitch-up by ministers?

CAMPAIGNERS have accused ministers of a stitchup after they refused to reveal how a panel reviewing freedom of information laws was recruited.

There are fears that the probe will curb the use of the Freedom of Information Act, which helped uncover the MPs’ expenses scandal as well as other revelations about waste and incompetence.

But a request by campaigners asking how the panel of five was selected and what criteria they had to meet has been knocked back by the Cabinet Office – on the grounds that it is ‘personal information’.

The panel run by former Treasury mandarin Lord Burns will also include former home secretaries Jack Straw and Michael Howard, as well as Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile – who used to review terror legislation – and former Ofcom deputy chairman Dame Patricia Hodgson. Out of the panel members, Mr Straw has previously suggested that ministerial communications about the development of policy should not be kept secret.

And some of Lord Howard’s decisions in Government and his expenses as an MP have been revealed to the public by the Act.

However, as critics have pointed out, no advocates for transparency or campaigners and organisations who have benefited from the Act have been asked to take part in or give formal evidence to the review.

A letter from campaign group Reprieve to Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock on 12 August asked if they, along with other groups, could give evidence to the inquiry. So far the letter has not been answered.

The group also asked whether there was a shortlist of candidates, what criteria they were asked to fulfil and if no shortlist was drawn up, then who made that decision. Cabinet Office officials claimed this information could not be released for data protection reasons.

Donald Campbell, Reprieve’s head of communications, said the response felt like a ‘stitch-up’. He added: ‘The Government’s unjustified secrecy around how it selected members of the Freedom of Information Commission will only fuel concerns that it has been set up with the aim of weakening the public’s right to know.

‘FoI is a vital tool for keeping our political masters honest. Any discussion about changes to FoI powers should take place in an open manner, with full public engagement.

‘It is deeply disappointing that the Government is instead pursuing a process which appears to be a stitchup behind closed doors – using spurious reasons to keep its workings hidden from public view.’

Tory Minister Mr Hancock insisted earlier this year that the review had cross-party support. But last month Labour accused Mr Straw of working with the Tories to dismantle the Act.

Yesterday a Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘The FoI Commission is independent of Government and was appointed to represent a broad spectrum of views.

‘We fully support FoI but after more than a decade in operation, we think it’s time that the process was reviewed to make sure it’s working effectively for both hardworking taxpayers and citizens.’

FoI laws – which helped uncover Prince Charles’s ‘spider letters’ to the Government covering topics such as homeopathy and Iraq – currently mean that anyone can ask for information so long as the request will not cost a government department more than £600 or another public body more than £450.

The Commission is supposedly looking at whether the Act is ‘working effectively’ and considering the need for a ‘safe space’ to let officials communicate off the record. The panel is expected to publish its findings by the end of November.

‘Hidden from public view’