The closer you get to the centre of power the less information you get

According to the Guardian's freedom of information specialist, David Hencke, the nearer reporters get to Tony Blair, the less information they get.

Hencke and Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for the Freedom of Information, told a committee of MPs that they were surprised by how much information was being released. But Hencke told the Constitutional Affairs Committee, headed by Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith, that different departments responded differently to journalists' requests. He said that while the Department for Culture, Media and Sport had been helpful in dealing with a request for information about casino operators, the Cabinet Office had said it was covered by "confidential advice to ministers".

Hencke said: "The nearer you get to the centre of power, the less keen they are in telling us, and the more delays there are." He said that while the Department for Culture, Media and Sport had been helpful in dealing with a request for information about casino operators, the Cabinet Office had said it was covered by "confidential advice to ministers".


Frankel warned MPs that the flow of information would be halved if Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, presses ahead with plans to change the threshold below which requests are free and expressed concern at the huge backlog of appeals awaiting a decision from the Information Commissioner.

Centre of power slow to act on FoI requests (Press Gazette, 30 March 2006)

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