Cabinet Office insists FOI ‘clearing house’ does not dictate to ministries
Department denies information requests from journalists are handled differently to others but admits to preparing for “possible media interest”
Fotolia
11 Feb 2021
The Cabinet Office has denied accusations that its “clearing house” for Freedom of Information Act requests blocks queries from journalists and tells departments how they should respond to demands for information made under transparency legsislation.
Campaigners this week called for a parliamentary investigation into the government’s handling of FOI requests in light of concerns about journalists being blacklisted, requests not being dealt with on an “applicant blind” basis, and departments' use of “administrative silence”.