Journalists and campaign organisations have been excluded from a Freedom of Information group set up by the Cabinet Office, openDemocracy can reveal.
A new ‘information rights user group’ founded by the government to look at transparency failures, including those exposed by openDemocracy, met for the first time last week.
But the Cabinet Office has come under fire over its failure to invite those who use Freedom of Information (FOI) on a daily basis, such as journalists and pressure groups. It has also been criticised for a lack of transparency around the group’s membership and the topics discussed at its first meeting.
Experts and campaigners have called it a “missed opportunity” and urged the Cabinet Office to extend the membership to include those with “lived experience” of the government’s “obfuscation, delay and stone-walling”.
Martin Rosenbaum, who spent 16 years as the BBC’s leading FOI specialist, was surprised by the lack of journalists on the government's group.
Speaking to openDemocracy, Rosenbaum said: “I find it very strange and disappointing, given this is an open government initiative, that there was no public announcement about the group’s membership and its first meeting.”
openDemocracy, which has long exposed FOI failings within central government and published two major reports on FOI in 2020 and 2021, was also not invited.
Michelle Stanistreet, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said: “Journalists frequently rely on FOI findings to inform their reporting on public interest stories, holding government and public bodies to account through scrutiny. Any work led by the Cabinet Office on this policy area should therefore reflect their views and capture experiences to support understanding.
“The NUJ is keen to engage with government and is well-placed to represent journalists on the newly formed Information rights user group, providing crucial insight and perspectives that differ from industry bodies and voices it understands are already stakeholders on the group.”
The government’s FOI record
The information rights user group was set up as part of a commitment to improving transparency in public life, with the government’s FOI record having long been criticised. Recently, The Guardian revealed that Rishi Sunak’s government placed a record number of blocks on FOI requests in its first three months.
openDemocracy regularly exposes the failings of FOI within government departments, and revealed the existence of the controversial Cabinet Office Clearing House, which led to an inquiry by Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee into the way the Cabinet Office deals with FOI requests. Last April, the committee published a highly critical report after receiving “evidence of poor FOI administration”.
The group’s members include the Information Commissioner’s Office – the watchdog of information rights in the public interest – as well as local authorities, academics and the Institute for Government think tank.
The Cabinet Office invited trade bodies the News Media Association and The Society of Editors to its information rights user group, but has been criticised for not including any working journalists who specialise in obtaining information under the FOI Act.
By including those with direct experience, the Cabinet Office would better understand the issues from a grassroots level
Rosenbaum said: “I strongly welcome the government setting up a group like this to listen to the FOI community. Several people on it are well-informed and can play a valuable role in helping the Cabinet Office get better understanding of the important perspective of FOI requesters.
He continued: “But there are also some important current gaps in its membership. The Cabinet Office should now extend the group’s membership to bring in some more requesters with the greatest direct experience of how FOI actually functions in practice, notably working journalists and pressure group campaigners who use FOI personally on a frequent basis.”
‘Emotional toll’
Jason Evans is the director of Factor 8, a campaign group on the UK’s contaminated blood scandal, which has been the subject of a long-running inquiry.
As part of his role, Evans regularly submits FOI requests for access to documents – and in late 2020 openDemocracy revealed how the Cabinet Office blocked the release of files about the contaminated blood scandal that he had requested from the Treasury.
Evans said: “While establishing a user group is welcome, it must only be right that those with lived experience can provide input. Too often, debate around the FOI Act can get bogged down in technicalities and statistics. By including more of those with significant direct experience, the Cabinet Office would better understand the issues from a grassroots level.
“Perhaps more importantly, and certainly as we've seen with the infected blood campaign, officials would be helped in properly understanding the emotional toll it can take when someone has to fight so hard for access to public information.”
Tom Brake, the director of Unlock Democracy, has previously raised concerns over how the government exempted its new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) from the FOI Act. He spoke of his disappointment at learning there Cabinet Office is not going to hear from any working journalists.
Brake said: “It is a huge missed opportunity failing to include both campaigning organisations and journalists in the Cabinet Office's information rights user group. These are the practitioners who rely on FOI on a daily basis and repeatedly experience its obfuscation, delay and stone-walling.”
When openDemocracy approached the Cabinet Office, the department said the media is “well represented” in its information rights user group.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “This government is committed to transparency, and we want to strengthen how the Freedom of Information Act works across the entire public sector.
“As part of that work, an information user rights group has been formed, which includes members from across public authorities, civil society groups, academia and the Information Commissioner's Office. We have also made sure that the media is well represented by inviting the News Media Association and The Society of Editors to join – as well as the Institute for Government, and MySociety.”
