Freedom of Information costs report rubbished
By Andrew Grant-Adamson • Oct 30th, 2006 • Category: Journalism, PoliticsGovernment plans to restrict Freedom of Information Act requests is “brazen” David Leigh and Rob Evans write on the front of Media Guardian today. They do not simply attack the proposals, they demolish the “think tank” report which is being used by Lord Falconer, the constitutional affairs secretary, to justify refusing requests.
Frontier Economics was paid £75,000 to come up with the self-serving report and the spurious figures on which it is based. It costs the time of ministers at £300 an hour, suggests the Guardian makes 500-700 requests a year when the real figure is around 250 and contains unsubstantiated figures on the numbers of civil servants employed to process requests.
Who, I wonder, has put it a FoI request for material relating to the giving of this contract to Frontier Economics?
Andrew Grant-Adamson is Andrew Grant-Adamson is a journalist who now teaches a new generation of writers, subs and editors at the University of Westminster.
Email this author | All posts by Andrew Grant-Adamson
