11 years later, the Department for Constitutional Affairs is saying that the FoIA, implementation of which is estimated to cost roughly £35m a year, has become too expensive. They want to place restrictions on the type of information (not too frivolous), the cost of collecting it (officials' reading time must be included in the charge) and the frequency of requests from any one individual or body.
It's the wrong thing for the government to do. Democracy has to be transparent and accountable, for both elected members and unelected officials, even if it costs a few bob.
The Times has a good list of 59 facts that have come to light (in only 2 years since the Act came into force) that we probably wouldn't have known about otherwise.
- The Government agreed a £1.5m bailout of one of the most troubled schools in its flagship city academies programme ten days before the 2005 general election
- Politicians are spending £2.2bn a year of taxpayers’ money on private management consultants
- Britain helped Israel to obtain its nuclear bomb 40 years ago, by selling it 20 tonnes of heavy water
- In 2004 the BBC paid £15.5m in staff bonuses when it was planning to cut more than 3,000 jobs
- Countries with poor human rights records and those on the front line in the War on Terror, including Iraq, were targeted by the Ministry of Defence as the most lucrative places for British arms companies to sell weapons
- Restaurants belonging to Britain's leading fast-food chains were branded “extremely poor” by health inspectors
- Cherie Blair became the first Prime Minister's spouse to be given a government car and driver for her personal use
- Plans to turn Britain into a “world leader” in internet gambling were drawn up by ministers
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