Information on ID cards to be released under FOI

The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has upheld two complaints under the Freedom of Information Act following information requests to the Treasury and the Office of Government Commerce for the Gateway Reviews of the identity cards programme and the programme’s traffic light status.

In both cases the public authorities refused to disclose the information citing two exemptions in the Act (audit functions and the formulation and development of government policy).

The Information Commissioner found that the audit function exemption had not been applied correctly on this occasion. He was not persuaded that disclosing the traffic light status of these Gateway Reviews, or that the information contained in the Reviews, would discourage future cooperation by those providing information to the Office of Government Commerce. He was not persuaded that disclosure would prejudice the exercise of the Office of Government Commerce’s audit functions.

Gateway reviews on ID cards should be made public (egovmonitor website, 7 August 2006)

0 comments: