You are here: Home » News »

Labour slams “tax on transparency” as Tories consider charging for FOIs

February 14, 2012 12:12 pm

Tags:

Share this Article

According to the Guardian, the government are considering implementing a charge for Freedom of Information requests:

“Civil servants are also calling for the introduction of higher fees for users of the act. The ministry suggests that the costs do “not adequately reflect the total amount of time spent in practice in compiling the information”.

Responding to the news, shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter attacked the plans as a “tax on transparency:

“It’s alarming that this Tory-led Government is looking at introducing a charge for submitting Freedom of Information requests. Labour introduced Freedom of Information legislation as a means of opening up the public sector and improving transparency in Government. A charge payable for each freedom of information request is nothing less than a tax on transparency.

“Freedom of Information is a step towards healthy governance. It permits scrutiny of those in power in central and local government and devolved administrations. Introducing a charge is a potential backward step, and will unravel Labour’s drive to open up the public sector to wider scrutiny.”

Anonymous
It was always going to come up, Labour did bring it in and then suddenly it dawned on them expenses might be a target, so parliamentary privilege was used but failed, it even caused Blair to go to court to get his evidence shredded. I suspect in the end you will have to be a company to ask for FOI or very rich and I doubt a hell of a lot of MP’s will mind this.

John Ruddy
Nice to see you can re-write history – parliamentary priviledge was used by parliament (hence the term) and not by Tony Blair, or the government.

Anonymous
Where did he say Blair used it?

Anonymous
Mr Blair did not need to claim Parliamentary privilege for his expenses claims. All the documents were shredded. What a shame!

Anonymous
No I rewrite nothing, the fact is four MPs who went to court tried to use the privilege of being an MPs to be judged by their piers if I remember right.
I have spent a long time in labour the problem is this is not my idea of a socialist party.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-OConnor/100000837891021 Joe O’Connor
Usual incomprehensible drivel Treborc! It’s just one great big distortion and twisting of everything with you in order to attack Labour.
Labour did indeed bring in FOI. It was this that led to the 4 Labour MPs going to prison and the 2 Tory Lords – who of course you ommited to mention accidentally on purpose perhaps.
It is essential that we fight to keep FOI intact as it is.

http://twitter.com/gonzozzz dave stone
You don’t understand treborc. His relationship with Labour is characterised by tough love.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-OConnor/100000837891021 Joe O’Connor
What does that mean?
derek
It means he wants a real party party built on it’s founding principles.
http://twitter.com/gonzozzz dave stone
And that he cares about Labour and that’s why he offers what he sees as just criticism.
From the biographical detail he’s provided, he’s definitely done more than his bit for Labour and therefore, whether you agree with him or not, earned the right to criticise.

Anonymous
The heading is misleading. They are considering an increase in the fees, not an introduction of fees. That was happening under the last government, as I seem to remember being charged for a FOI request four years ago.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-OConnor/100000837891021 Joe O’Connor
Fair point Girl Guide but don’t you think we should keep FOI intact and as it is?

Dave Postles
1 We’ve already paid for the information to be collected;
2 we’ve already paid for the salaries of those who are producing the information for the FoI request – the hidden cost in their time is already paid for by the taxpayer;
3 as Treborc indicates, higher fees might introduce a barrier for poorer people to make FoI requests, so that there is a practical division as to who can use FoI;
4 on the one hand, this government spends money placing a lot of undigested and indigestible information in an uncritical way on the web, proclaiming itself to be the most open government, but seemingly intends to raise the barrier to information – the usual incoherent policy of this government;
5 the Information Commissioner should get on the case.
Dave Postles
Actually, local government has always been more transparent than central. Every ‘ratepayer’ (or the successor local taxpayer) has the right to inspect the minutes of the council of the local authority and its committees and, where necessary for clarification, the supporting papers. It is a longstanding obligation on local authorities.

Latest

Comment
Housing upheaval can be traced back to Thatcher
By Chris Williamson
If further evidence was needed that the Government is destroying our communities then it came by the bucket load with proposals to relocate hundreds of housing benefit claimants. Councils across London desperately searched for a solution to the housing benefit cap that made it impossible for some of the capital’s poorest residents to stay in their homes. First we heard of plans to move residents to Darlington, Stoke, Hull and parts of Yorkshire. But the revelation that Westminster Council planned [...]
Read more →
Featured
The austerity consensus has collapsed
By Owen Jones
There is no alternative: the only way out of Britain’s current economic plight is massive cuts to public spending. Taxes on the wealthiest must be slashed: they are blocks on aspiration and economically counterproductive. Austerity is the only game in town. Or so we have been told ever since the Coalition was formed in the rose gardens of Number 10 Downing Street. The overwhelming majority of the media has gladly reinforced the Government line, and those voices calling for an [...]
Read more →
Comment
Should Labour go further on football reform?
By Ben Shave
“As a party, Labour should take great pride in the fact that we initiated Supporters Direct, but now is the time to go further.” These sentiments, expressed in a recent article for Progress by Steve Rotheram MP, hark back to a time where the landscape was somewhat different for the Labour party, but similar in many ways to that faced by football supporters in 2012. The Football Taskforce was established soon after Labour came to power in 1997, with the [...]
Read more →
Comment
Making Labour Policy: Who calls the tune?
By Ann Black
Excellent election results and rising polls have brought a mood of unity and created space and time for serious work on policy. Francois Hollande’s victory shows that austerity is not the only option, and Labour must start to develop an alternative agenda, rejecting the Tory politics of resentment and division in favour of policies which are fair, principled and credible: on housing, crime, transport, health, schools, higher education, manufacturing, tax, defence, social care, equality, employment rights and the environment. We [...]
Read more →
News
It’s the budget what won it…
Why did Labour win the 2010 local elections so convincingly? It’s the budget right? This graph of polling from TNS BMRB certainly suggests that. Labour’s slim lead extends rapidly following the budget (highlighted) – and current stands at 12 points (42/30). And as for why Labour did better in 2012 compared to the 2011 elections – just compare May and May 2012. A year is a long time in politics…
Read more →