Bias claims over Freedom of Information laws panel

CAMPAIGNERS warned of a Whitehall stitch-up last night over plans to limit Freedom of Information laws which have exposed Government scandals.

A panel set up to decide the future of the law is staffed by civil servants and former ministers – sparking claims of ‘bias’ – will consider making it easier for councils, Government departments and quangos to reject requests for information.

The panel includes the former Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who has called for the laws to be reined in, and Lord Burns, a former permanent secretary at the Treasury.

Chairman of the Campaign for Freedom of Information Maurice Frankel said: ‘It certainly needs somebody on it who is an advocate for greater openness.

‘If this was a statutory inquiry the courts would strike it down tomorrow before its first meeting because of bias.’

Ukip MP Douglas Carswell said FOI had been the key to the exposure of MPs ‘abusing their expenses’.

He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Putting this lot in charge of Freedom of Information would be like putting supermarket bosses in charge of competition policy.’

FOI was also the source of the revelations from Prince Charles’s ‘spider letters’ to Government – covering topics such as homeopathy and military helicopters in Iraq.

The commission will look at further restrictions to stop the release of advice given to ministers by civil servants and it will examine changing the rules to lift the ‘burden’ on public authorities and ‘moderate’ information access rules.

Before the election, Tory ministers proposed limiting FOI. The panel will publish its findings by the end of November.

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