Let's charge for information, argues Kent County Council
Comments |
by political editor Paul Francis
The government should consider charging for Freedom of
Information as a way of deterring frivolous requests, according to
Kent County Council.
The authority suggests the fee as part of its response to a
review of the Freedom of Information Act being conducted by
MPs.
In a three-page submission, KCC also argues public bodies should
be allowed to take into account more factors when weighing up
whether dealing with a request would exceed statutory time
limits.
The council dealt with 1,819 FOI requests last year compared to
504 in 2005 when the Act became law.
It said: "The introduction of a (nominal?) fee... may deter
frivolous requests or the ‘round robin’ requests from commercial
companies, journalists and the media."
It cites the recent case of a request from a member of the
public asking about defective red pens as having no value.
KCC also recommends the Act should be "more prescriptive about
cost limits" and urges the Ministry of Justice to allow public
bodies to include reading information and redacting - blanking out
information such as names - when assessing the length of time it
would take to deal with a request.
Despite these misgivings, KCC acknowledges the Act has
"definitely forced traditionally secretive cultures to become more
transparent" and says public bodies "have been forced to accept
they are going to be subject to scrutiny and rightly so."
Cllr Roger Gough (Con), KCC cabinet member for corporate
services, said the council did not want changes that would have a
chilling effect on the media, but a balance had to be struck.
He said: "There are undoubtedly some aspects of the Act that are
difficult to deal with, but we want to adopt a sensible position.
We do not want to deter sensible queries and have a chilling
effect."
KCC’s
suggestion of a fee is similar to a proposal being put forward by
the Ministry of Justice. It too says a charge for dealing with
requests should be considered.
MPs will consider the evidence submitted by 113 different
organisations in its review.
The KM Group is among a number of media groups to respond to the
consultation - arguing against the introduction of any charges.
The Freedom of Information Act came into force in
2005.
It allows anyone to ask more than 100,000 different
public bodies for information and if held, the information should
be disclosed.
However, the Act has 28 qualified exemptions subject to
the public interest test, which allows bodies to withold
information if they believe it would not be in the public interest
to disclose it.
The Act was pivotal in forcing the House of Commons to
disclose details of MPs expenses.
While it is free to make requests, authorities can refuse
to deal with requests if they exceed notional cost limits covering
the estimated time needed to deal with a request.
For central government, the limit is £600 while for
councils and others, it is £450.
Tuesday, February 14 2012
The KM Group does not moderate comments.
Please click here for our house rules.