Campaign for Freedom of Information

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The Campaign for Freedom of Information is an advocacy group that promotes and defends freedom of information in the UK. It seeks to strengthen the public's rights under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and related laws and opposes attempts to weaken them. It does this through campaigning, the publication of briefings and other reports and research. The Campaign also provides advice to the public, assistance to people challenging unreasonable refusals to disclose information and runs training courses on freedom of information.

Contents

The Campaign is a not-for-profit company, unaffiliated to any political party, (registration number 1781526) governed by a board of non-executive directors. It is funded mainly by grants from charitable foundations, donations and income from training. Maurice Frankel has been its director since 1987.

History

1984–1996

First edition of the CFOI journal Secrets Secrets Issue 1 scanned.jpg
First edition of the CFOI journal Secrets

The Campaign was founded in 1984 by citizen campaigner Des Wilson to secure a freedom of information law [1] in the UK. The organisation was officially launched on 5 January 1984 with the support of the three main opposition party leaders of the time and 150 MPs from all parties. [2] The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, [3] [4] opposed FOI in principle, saying that a legal power to force ministers to disclose information would weaken ministers' accountability to Parliament. [5]

They worked to keep FOI on the political agenda until the climate became more favourable, while seeking to introduce specific rights to information through private members' bills. Several private members' bills that the Campaign drafted and promoted reached the statute book as the:

The Campaign also drafted a bill to reform section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, a catch-all provision which made the unauthorised disclosure of any official information a criminal offence. The Protection of Official Information Bill, introduced by MP Richard Shepherd in 1988, would have replaced section 2 with a narrower measure that included a public interest defence. The bill was defeated after the government imposed an unprecedented three-line whip on its own MPs at second reading requiring them to vote it down. [6] Thatcher's Conservative government later introduced the Official Secrets Act 1989, which repealed section 2 of the 1911 Act, but rejected all efforts to insert a public interest defence.

In February 1993, another of the Campaign's private members' bills for a full FOI Act, the Right to Know Bill, was introduced by MP Mark Fisher and debated for a total of 21 hours in the Commons.

With the whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work the Campaign drafted the Whistleblower Protection Bill, introduced as a ten-minute rule bill by MP Tony Wright early in 1995. A revised version, the Public Interest Disclosure Bill, was introduced by MP Don Touhig at the end of 1995. The bill completed its committee stage in the Commons before being talked out by the government in 1996. Shortly after the Labour Party won the 1997 general election, MP Richard Shepherd drew a high place in the private members' ballot and introduced the Public Interest Disclosure Bill, which received Royal Assent in July 1998.

1996–2005

In 1996, Tony Blair presented the Campaign's annual awards, and strongly committed himself to FOI. [7] [8] Following Labour's election in 1997, the Campaign's chairman James Cornford was appointed a special adviser by David Clark, the cabinet minister responsible for drawing up the government's FOI proposals. However, after a well-received white paper, Your Right to Know (CM 3818), Clark was relieved of this role and responsibility for FOI was moved to the Home Office under Jack Straw. The Home Office later published a draft FOI bill that was greeted with "universal hostility". [9] [10]

The Campaign took the lead in proposing amendments to the bill during its Parliamentary passage. [11] It played a similar role in relation to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, which received Royal Assent in 2002.

The Campaign's role in bringing about FOI was acknowledged by Straw, who as Home Secretary introduced the legislation. Straw told MPs on the Justice Committee, which was conducting post-legislative scrutiny of the FOI Act, that Labour's manifesto commitment "was the product of a brilliant campaign by the Campaign for Freedom of Information". [12] The commentator Peter Riddell wrote that the Campaign "was primarily responsible for the introduction of the legislation". [13]

2005 onwards

Since 2005 the Campaign has worked to defend the FOI Act from repeated attempts to weaken it. These started in 2006 when the government published draft regulations to make it easier for public authorities to refuse FOI requests on cost grounds. [14] This was followed by separate moves to remove Parliament [15] and then MPs' expenses [16] from the legislation. [17] There was also pressure to exclude cabinet papers [18] from access, exclude all policy discussions and to introduce charges for requests. [19] The Campaign has opposed all these so far unsuccessful initiatives – though in 2010 a measure giving the Royal Family greater protection from FOI was passed. [20]

The Campaign continues to press for improvements to the FOI Act. In particular to:

Support work

The Campaign provides advice to the public about their rights to information and has published a short guide to the Freedom of Information Act and related laws. It assists individuals who have been refused information to complain to the Information Commissioner or appeal against Information Commissioner decisions to the Information Rights Tribunal. It has been instrumental in a number of successful Tribunal appeals involving the police's failure to provide information to a murder victim's family, relatives denied information about a hospital death, toxic land contamination, the withholding of an MP's policy correspondence on the spurious grounds that disclosure would breach his privacy, and in overturning a decision that would have introduced an entirely new layer of secrecy about Ombudsman inquiries. It has assisted a requester bring a judicial review of a ministerial veto blocking the release of a report on the HS2 rail link.

The organisation recently intervened in two Supreme Court cases, with the Media Legal Defence Initiative in support of The Times newspaper's ultimately unsuccessful argument that Article 10 of the ECHR incorporates a right to FOI [22] and in support of The Guardian's challenge to the government's use of the ministerial veto in the FOI Act to block the disclosure of the then Prince Charles' advocacy correspondence, the so-called Black spider memos, with government departments. [23]

The Campaign provides training on how to use FOI. It also provides a regular training course for FOI officers on recent developments in FOI case law.

30th anniversary

30th anniversary featuring from left to right: Des Wilson (founder), Neil McIntosh (chair until 2014), Russell Levy (chair) and Maurice Frankel (director). CFOI 30th Anniversary.jpeg
30th anniversary featuring from left to right: Des Wilson (founder), Neil McIntosh (chair until 2014), Russell Levy (chair) and Maurice Frankel (director).

In January 2015, the Campaign celebrated its 30th anniversary with an event hosted by ARTICLE 19 at the Free Word Centre at which Ian Hislop and Des Wilson spoke. It marked the occasion by selling special edition T-shirts featuring Tony Blair (who has described the introduction of FOI as one of his biggest mistakes [24] ) in a cartoon designed for it by political cartoonist Steve Bell. [25]

In fiction

The character Sir Arnold Robinson from the hit series Yes Minister accepts the chairmanship of the campaign for freedom of information, and in Yes, Prime Minister is regularly seen in this role, more often than not using it to aid Sir Humphrey in leaking material that will damage the government (once he has the assurance that the leaked information is inaccurate).

Related Research Articles

Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfaction with the secrecy surrounding government policy development and decision making. In recent years Access to Information Act has also been used. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions. Also variously referred to as open records, or sunshine laws, governments are typically bound by a duty to publish and promote openness. In many countries there are constitutional guarantees for the right of access to information, but these are usually unused if specific support legislation does not exist. Additionally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 has a target to ensure public access to information and the protection of fundamental freedoms as a means to ensure accountable, inclusive and just institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Straw</span> British politician (born 1946)

John Whitaker Straw is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001, and Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 under Blair. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn from 1979 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Harman</span> British politician (born 1950)

Harriet Ruth Harman is a British politician and solicitor who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 40 years, from 1982 to 2024, making her one of the longest-serving MPs in British history. Harman latterly served as MP for Camberwell and Peckham from 1997 to 2024, and previously was MP for Peckham from 1982 to 1997. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Anderson</span> British politician (1949–2023)

Janet Anderson was a British politician from the Labour Party. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rossendale and Darwen from 1992 until 2010, when she lost her seat. She was the Minister for Tourism from 1998 to 2001, a period which included the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak. In the 2009 United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, she was found to have claimed costs for journeys she had not made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alun Michael</span> Welsh politician (born 1943)

Alun Edward Michael is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 1999 to 2000. He went on to serve as South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Maclean, Baron Blencathra</span> United Kingdom Conservative Party politician (born 1953)

David John Maclean, Baron Blencathra, is a Conservative Party life peer. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border from 1983 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Shepherd</span> British politician (1942–2022)

Sir Richard Charles Scrimgeour Shepherd was a British politician who was Member of Parliament for Aldridge-Brownhills from 1979 to 2015. A Eurosceptic, Shepherd was one of the Maastricht Rebels that had the whip withdrawn over opposition to Prime Minister John Major's legislation on the European Union. Shepherd was also a libertarian Conservative, and had a three line whip imposed against him by Margaret Thatcher when he introduced an amendment to loosen the Official Secrets Act 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedom of Information Act 2000</span> Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level. Its application is limited in Scotland to UK Government offices located in Scotland. The Act implements a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election, developed by David Clark as a 1997 White Paper. The final version of the Act was criticised by freedom of information campaigners as a diluted form of what had been proposed in the White Paper. The full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005. The Act was the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor's Department. However, freedom of information policy is now the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. The Act led to the renaming of the Data Protection Commissioner, who is now known as the Information Commissioner. The Office of the Information Commissioner oversees the operation of the Act.

Freedom of information (FOI) in the United Kingdom refers to members of the general public's right to access information held by public authorities. This right is covered in two parts:

  1. Public authorities must regularly publish updates and information regarding their activities, and
  2. Members of the public can make requests for information and updates regarding the activities of public authorities.
<i>Access to Information Act</i> Canadian freedom of information act

The Access to Information Act or Information Act is a Canadian Act providing the right of access to information under the control of a federal government institution. As of 2020, the Act allowed "people who pay $5 to request an array of federal files". Paragraph 2. (1) of the Act ("Purpose") declares that government information should be available to the public, but with necessary exceptions to the right of access that should be limited and specific, and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government. Later paragraphs assign responsibility for this review to an Information Commissioner, who reports directly to parliament rather than the government in power. However, the Act provides the commissioner the power only to recommend rather than compel the release of requested information that the commissioner judges to be not subject to any exception specified in the Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Tony Blair</span> Period of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007

Tony Blair's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 2 May 1997 when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding John Major of the Conservative Party, and ended on 27 June 2007 upon his resignation. While serving as prime minister, Blair also served as the first lord of the treasury, minister for the civil service and leader of the Labour Party. He and Gordon Brown both extensively used the New Labour branding while in office, which was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history and the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.

The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill was a private members bill introduced to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 2007 which failed to become law after a sponsor for the Bill could not be found in the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Brooke</span> British-American journalist

Heather Rose Brooke is a British-American journalist and freedom of information campaigner. Resident since the 1990s in the UK, she helped to expose the 2009 expenses scandal, which culminated in the resignation of Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin, dozens of MPs standing down in the 2010 general election and multiple MPs being jailed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedom of Information Act 1982</span>

The Freedom of Information Act 1982(Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia which guarantees freedom of information (FOI) and the rights of access to official documents of the Commonwealth Government and of its agencies to members of the public. It was passed by the Australian Parliament on 9 March 1982, and commenced on 1 December 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobbying in the United Kingdom</span>

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The Iraq Inquiry was a British public inquiry into the nation's role in the Iraq War. The inquiry was announced in 2009 by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and published in 2016 with a public statement by Chilcot.

Freedom of information in Canada describes the capacity for the Canadian Government to provide timely and accurate access to internal data concerning government services. Each province and territory in Canada has its own access to freedom of information legislation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protection of State Information Bill</span>

The South African Protection of State Information Bill, formerly named the Protection of Information Bill and commonly referred to as the Secrecy Bill, is a highly controversial piece of proposed legislation which aims to regulate the, protection and dissemination of state information, weighing state interests up against transparency and freedom of expression. It will replace the Protection of State Information Act, 1982, which currently regulates these issues.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), known until 2010 as the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner is an independent Australian Government agency, acting as the national data protection authority for Australia, established under the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010, headed by the Australian Information Commissioner.

The Draft Communications Data Bill was draft legislation proposed by then Home Secretary Theresa May in the United Kingdom which would require Internet service providers and mobile phone companies to maintain records of each user's internet browsing activity, email correspondence, voice calls, internet gaming, and mobile phone messaging services and store the records for 12 months. Retention of email and telephone contact data for this time is already required by the Data Retention Regulations 2014. The anticipated cost was £1.8 billion.

References

  1. ↑ Freedom of information laws by country
  2. ↑ Norton-Taylor, Richard Norton-Taylor (6 February 1984). "Campaigners declare war on secret state". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ "Secrets Newspaper No 1" (PDF). Secrets Newspaper. 12 January 1984.
  4. ↑ Thatcher, Margaret (12 July 1983). "MT letter to Des Wilson (proposed Freedom of Information Act)". Thatcher Archive. Thatcher Archive.
  5. ↑ "Secrets Newspaper No.1" (PDF). Secrets Newspaper. CFOI. 1 January 1985.
  6. ↑ "Move to revive secrets reform". The Observer. 17 January 1988.
  7. ↑ "Tony Blair at CFOI ceremony". CFOI. CFOI. 25 March 1996.
  8. ↑ "SPeech by Tony Blair". CFOI. CFOI. 25 March 1996.
  9. ↑ Ward/Henke, Lucy/David (23 June 1999). "Straw grilled by MPs, attacked by campaigners". The Guardian.
  10. ↑ "Straw denies information bill 'retreat'". BBC. 24 May 1990.
  11. ↑ "Straw Concedes on Information Bill". 5 April 2000.
  12. ↑ "Jack Straw's evidence the House of Commons Justice Committee". UK Parliament. n.d. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  13. ↑ Brooke, Heather (7 April 2010). "The Silent State: Secrets, Surveillance and the Myth of British Democracy". The Times.
  14. ↑ "Blair government's proposals to restrict FOI requests". CFOI.org.uk. CFOI. n.d.
  15. ↑ "Attempt to remove Parliament from the FOI Act". CFOI.org.uk. CFOI. n.d.
  16. ↑ "Straw denies information bill 'retreat'". BBC News. 24 April 1999.
  17. ↑ "New bid to exempt MPs' expenses from FOI Act". CFOI. 23 January 2009.
  18. ↑ Whitehead, Tom (11 June 2009). "Cabinet papers to be exempt from Freedom of Information". The Daily Telegraph.
  19. ↑ Cook, Chris (2 March 2012). "Freedom of Information Act 'under attack'". Financial Times.
  20. ↑ Verkaik, Robert (5 March 2015). "Royal Family granted new right of secrecy". The Independent (UK). Archived from the original on 10 January 2011.
  21. ↑ "Government Response to the Justice Committee's Report: Post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, November 2012, Paragraph 37" (PDF). UK Government website. UK Government. n.d.
  22. ↑ Anonymous, Anonymous (8 May 2014). "Richard Clayton: The Curious Case of Kennedy v Charity Commission". MLDI.
  23. ↑ "Legal Battle over Prince of Charles letters". The Guardian. The Guardian UK. n.d.
  24. ↑ Associated Press (17 November 2011). "Blair regrets passing freedom of information law". The Guardian.
  25. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (14 January 2015). "Support freedom of information with a Tony Blair T-shirt". The Guardian .
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