Government FOI plans delayed
The government's planned changes to freedom of information have been delayed in an today by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
The DCA has decided to have another consultation period, now lasting until June 21and this time about the principles behind its approach. The asks more fundamental questions than those raised in the first one.
Possibly this is merely a recognition that the initial consultative document was too limited and inadequate, or possibly ministers have taken on board the many criticisms of their plans and are now working their way round to a change of policy.
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Interesting that this comes out the day after the Government lost a statutory instrument for the first time in years.
I can't see any amendment to the fees regulations getting through parliament without being prayed against, and the DCA should perhaps be worried by the new-found backbone in the upper house.
It neatly parks the issue until after Blair has gone. Will Gordon 'Ethical Renewal' Brown want disembowling of FOI to be his first act as PM?
Another consideration is whether the government might have felt vulnerable to judicial review, given the recent thrashing they received in the High Court when Greenpeace challenged the validity of the consultation exercise over whether to build a new generation nuclear power stations.
Martin,
Government FOI plans delayed. Watching Guido Fawkes dropping the ball on "Newsnight" I can guess why.
Three words or four if you are going to be pedantic uttered by a flustered "Guido". "Lord Levy's trial". Say what?
The scales have just fallen from my eyes.
interesting that Nick Robinson who runs a live blog about the budget, has nothing to say this morning on the pensions scandal created by Gordon Brown. Brown has tried to hush this up for two years in direct conflict with the government's own policy on freedom of inforamtion and standards in public life.
What's the matter, Nick? Cat got your tongue?
When is this instituionalised bias at the 91Èȱ¬ going to be dealt with? It's extraordinary that Robinson sets up his blog as a quasi peoples' champion without people realising just whose sie he's on.
I totally agree with robon in post#4,
Nick whats happened?, why no comments about Brown and the pension scandal?, could it be that the 91Èȱ¬ cannot stomach the thought that after years of being in Browns pocket they and Brown have been found out?.
91Èȱ¬ impartial?, not from the sound of silence I'm hearing.
See this -
/blogs/nickrobinson/2007/04/abg.html