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It probably wasn't the audience he was mainly aiming at, but could have impressed Europe's investigative journalists.

I was at a conference last month in Utrecht about investigative journalism, and some of those present were expressing their fears about governments moving towards charging for public sector information which is currently free. Danish and Dutch participants seemed particularly concerned.

But , the British government is moving towards opening up the supply of public data - to the of many of those most interested.

It may not be the zeitgeist everywhere else in Europe, but in the UK it's the mood of the times. The Conservatives have also been . And some , such as , are leading the way in freeing their data.

The Information Commissioner Chris Graham hopes that more proactive disclosure of this kind will have the beneficial side-effect of reducing the need for many freedom of information requests.

I'm not convinced that it will have much impact - it might preclude some of the more routine queries, but it won't influence the awkward, time-consuming cases involving material which public authorities would deeply prefer to keep secret.

There was one small reminder yesterday of how some authorities are finding it difficult to cope with the flow of FOI requests. It was that North Somerset Council is "struggling with FoI deluge'" of hundreds of questions.

When the Weston Mercury asked the council what was the most common subject of the requests, the local newspaper was apparently told: "You would have to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out."

Now of course some people might think that's exactly the kind of data which could be proactively disclosed. But meanwhile, for the sake of the council's FOI team, please don't all ask at once.

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