8 February 2021 To: The Right Honourable William Wragg MP, Chair, Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee The Right Honourable Julian Knight MP, Chair, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee cc: The Right Honourable Michael Gove, ​Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office The Right Honourable Chloe Smith, Minister for the Cabinet Office Dunja Mijatovic, Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression Elizabeth Denham, UK Information Commissioner Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Foreign Office Kanbar Hossein Bor, UK Foreign Office We are writing to you to raise serious concerns about the difficulties that journalists, researchers and members of the public currently experience when trying to use FOI legislation, across government. As you know, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 sets standards for openness and transparency from government, and is a critical tool for ensuring that journalists and members of the public can scrutinise the workings of government. openDemocracy Limited ​– registered in the UK – company no 3855274 ​ The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL, UK www.opendemocracy.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7459 4068 We have, however, become increasingly concerned about the way in which the legislation is being interpreted and implemented. As the new openDemocracy report ‘​Art of Darkness​’ makes clear, FOI response rates are at the lowest level since the introduction of the Act 20 years ago. The report also points to increasing evidence of poor practices across government, such as the use of ‘administrative silence’ to stonewall requests. In addition, it was recently reported that the Cabinet Office is operating a ‘Clearing House’ unit in which FOI responses are centrally coordinated, undermining the applicant-blind principle of the Act. This raises serious questions about whether information requests by journalists and researchers are being treated and managed differently. The new report also shows that the regulator charged with implementing Freedom of Information legislation – the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – has seen its budget cut by 41 per cent over the last decade while its FOI complaint caseload has increased by 46 per cent in the same period. We believe that there are now strong grounds for a review of the UK government’s treatment of and policies for dealing with Freedom of Information requests, and would urge the minister to address these concerns. We urge you to take the following steps as a matter of priority: 1. Open an inquiry into the operation of the Clearing House, which comprehensively investigates whether its operation is GDPR-compliant, whether journalists and other users of the Act are being monitored and/or blacklisted, and whether this is illegal and/or undermines the applicant-blind principle of the Act. 2. Consider the merits of introducing an ‘administrative silence’ rule whereby a failure to respond to a request within the requisite time period is deemed to be a refusal and can be appealed in full to the ICO. 3. Recognise the national interest of an independent and fully funded regulator of information rights by considering the ICO’s critical lack of funding, and making the regulator accountable to and funded by parliament. Despite recommendations from the ICO, the government has also declined to expand the FOI Act to cover public contracts to private firms – openDemocracy Limited ​– registered in the UK – company no 3855274 ​ The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL, UK www.opendemocracy.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7459 4068 and has failed to deliver on its own pledges to increase the proactive publication of contracting data. Given the recent National Audit Office report’s criticism about the lack of transparency in government COVID contracting, it is high time that this recommendation was followed through – and that further measures as outlined above are taken to protect and strengthen the public’s right to access information. Yours, Mary Fitzgerald, Editor in Chief, openDemocracy Katharine Viner, Editor in Chief, The Guardian John Witherow, Editor, The Times Emma Tucker, Editor, The Sunday Times Chris Evans, Editor, The Daily Telegraph Roula Khalaf, Editor, The Financial Times Alison Phillips, Editor, Daily Mirror Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief, Associated Newspapers, former Editor, Daily Mail Alan Rusbridger, former Editor in Chief, The Guardian Lionel Barber, former Editor, Financial Times Veronica Wadley, Chair of Arts Council London; former Editor, Evening Standard Ian Hislop, Editor, Private Eye David Davis MP Alex Graham, Chair of the Scott Trust Sayra Tekin, Legal, Policy and Regulatory Affairs Director, News Media Association Ian Murray, Executive Director, Society of Editors Sir Alan Moses, former Chair, IPSO Anne Lapping CBE, former Deputy Chair, IPSO openDemocracy Limited ​– registered in the UK – company no 3855274 ​ The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL, UK www.opendemocracy.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7459 4068 Philip Pullman, author Baroness Janet Whitaker Baroness Tessa Blackstone Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Adviser Ruth Smeeth, Chief Executive, Index on Censorship Daniel Bruce, Chief Executive, Transparency International Daniel Gorman, Director, English PEN Menna Elfyn, President of Wales PEN Cymru Carl MacDougall, President of Scottish PEN Rebecca Vincent, Director of International Campaigns, Reporters Without Borders Michelle Stanistreet, General Secretary, National Union of Journalists Sian Jones, President, National Union of Journalists Jodie Ginsberg, Chief Executive Officer, Internews Europe John Sauven, Executive Director, Greenpeace Jonathan Heawood, Public Interest News Foundation Anthony Barnett, Founding Dir​ector, Charter 88 Suzanna Taverne, Chair, openDemocracy Chris Blackhurst, former Editor, The Independent Rachel Oldroyd, Managing Editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Peter Jukes and Stephen Colegrave, Executive Editors, Byline Times Philippe Sands QC George Peretz QC David Leigh, ​investigative journalist Robert Peston, journalist and author Peter Oborne, journalist and author openDemocracy Limited ​– registered in the UK – company no 3855274 ​ The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL, UK www.opendemocracy.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7459 4068 Nick Cohen, journalist and author David Aaronovitch, journalist and author Michael Crick, journalist and author Ian Cobain, investigative journalist Tom Bower, investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr, journalist Aditya​ Chakrabortty, Senior Economics Commentator, The Guardian Jason Beattie, Assistant Editor, the Daily Mirror Rowland Manthorpe, ​Technology Correspondent, Sky News Cynthia O’Murchu, Investigative Reporter, Financial Times Tom Warren, Investigative Reporter, BuzzFeed News Christopher Hird, Founder and Managing Director, Dartmouth Films Meirion Jone​s, Investigations Editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism James Ball, Global Editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Oliver Bullough, journalist and author Henry Porter, journalist and author Peter Geoghegan, Investigations Editor, openDemocracy Margot Gibbs, Senior Reporter, Finance Uncovered Lionel Faull, Chief Reporter, Finance Uncovered Chris Cook, Contributing editor, Tortoise Brian Cathcart, Professor of Journalism, ​Kingston University Mark Cridge, Chief Executive, mySociety Dr Susan Hawley, Executive Director, Spotlight on Corruption Helen Darbishire, Executive Director, Access Info Europe Miriam Turner and Hugh Knowles, co-CEOs, Friends of the Earth openDemocracy Limited ​– registered in the UK – company no 3855274 ​ The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL, UK www.opendemocracy.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7459 4068 Mike Davis, Executive Director, Global Witness Silkie Carlo, Director, Big Brother Watch Natalie Fenton, Professor of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London Dr Lutz Kinkel, the Managing Director of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) Scott Griffen, Deputy Director of International Press Institute Granville Williams, Editor, Media North Alison Moore, journalist and editor Tim Go​psil, Former Editor, Free Press and the Journalist magazine Dave West, Deputy Editor, Health Services Journal Dr Sam Raphael, Director, UK Unredacted and University of Westminster Leigh Baldwin and Marcus Leroux, SourceMaterial Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory Barnaby Pace, Senior Campaigner, Global Witness Lisa Clark, Scottish PEN Project Manager Nick Craven, journalist Caroline Molloy, Editor, openDemocracy UK Jenna Corderoy, Investigative Reporter, openDemocracy Jamie Beagent, Partner, Leigh Day Sean Humber, Partner, Leigh Day Harminder Bains, Partner, Leigh Day Thomas Jervis, Partner, Leigh Day Oliver Holland, Partner, Leigh Day Merry Varney, Partner, Leigh Day Daniel Easton, Partner, Leigh Day openDemocracy Limited ​– registered in the UK – company no 3855274 ​ The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL, UK www.opendemocracy.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7459 4068 Michael Newman, Partner, Leigh Day Sarah Campbell, Partner, Leigh Day openDemocracy Limited ​– registered in the UK – company no 3855274 ​ The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL, UK www.opendemocracy.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7459 4068 .