History
1984–1996
The Campaign was founded in 1984 by citizen campaigner Des Wilson to secure a freedom of information law[1] in the UK. The organisation was officially launched on 5 January 1984 with the support of the three main opposition party leaders of the time and 150 MPs from all parties.[2] The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher,[3][4] opposed FOI in principle, saying that a legal power to force ministers to disclose information would weaken ministers' accountability to Parliament.[5]
They worked to keep FOI on the political agenda until the climate became more favourable, while seeking to introduce specific rights to information through private members' bills. Several private members' bills that the Campaign drafted and promoted reached the statute book as the:
- Access to Personal Files Act 1987 (access to individuals' housing and social work files)
- Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 (access to medical reports provided to employers or insurers)
- Environment and Safety Information Act 1988 (access to specified enforcement notices)
- Access to Health Records Act 1990 (a general right of access to health records)
The Campaign also drafted a bill to reform section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, a catch-all provision which made the unauthorised disclosure of any official information a criminal offence. The Protection of Official Information Bill, introduced by MP Richard Shepherd in 1988, would have replaced section 2 with a narrower measure that included a public interest defence. The bill was defeated after the government imposed an unprecedented three-line whip on its own MPs at second reading requiring them to vote it down.[6] Thatcher's Conservative government later introduced the Official Secrets Act 1989, which repealed section 2 of the 1911 Act, but rejected all efforts to insert a public interest defence.
In February 1993, another of the Campaign's private members' bills for a full FOI Act, the Right to Know Bill, was introduced by MP Mark Fisher and debated for a total of 21 hours in the Commons.
With the whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work the Campaign drafted the Whistleblower Protection Bill, introduced as a ten-minute rule bill by MP Tony Wright early in 1995. A revised version, the Public Interest Disclosure Bill, was introduced by MP Don Touhig at the end of 1995. The bill completed its committee stage in the Commons before being talked out by the government in 1996. Shortly after the Labour Party won the 1997 general election, MP Richard Shepherd drew a high place in the private members' ballot and introduced the Public Interest Disclosure Bill, which received Royal Assent in July 1998.
1996–2005
In 1996, Tony Blair presented the Campaign's annual awards, and strongly committed himself to FOI.[7][8] Following Labour's election in 1997, the Campaign's chairman James Cornford was appointed a special adviser by David Clark, the cabinet minister responsible for drawing up the government's FOI proposals. However, after a well-received white paper, Your Right to Know (CM 3818), Clark was relieved of this role and responsibility for FOI was moved to the Home Office under Jack Straw. The Home Office later published a draft FOI bill that was greeted with "universal hostility".[9][10]
The Campaign took the lead in proposing amendments to the bill during its Parliamentary passage.[11] It played a similar role in relation to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, which received Royal Assent in 2002.
The Campaign's role in bringing about FOI was acknowledged by Straw, who as Home Secretary introduced the legislation. Straw told MPs on the Justice Committee, which was conducting post-legislative scrutiny of the FOI Act, that Labour's manifesto commitment "was the product of a brilliant campaign by the Campaign for Freedom of Information".[12] The commentator Peter Riddell wrote that the Campaign "was primarily responsible for the introduction of the legislation".[13]
2005 onwards
Since 2005 the Campaign has worked to defend the FOI Act from repeated attempts to weaken it. These started in 2006 when the government published draft regulations to make it easier for public authorities to refuse FOI requests on cost grounds.[14] This was followed by separate moves to remove Parliament[15] and then MPs' expenses[16] from the legislation.[17] There was also pressure to exclude cabinet papers[18] from access, exclude all policy discussions and to introduce charges for requests.[19] The Campaign has opposed all these so far unsuccessful initiatives – though in 2010 a measure giving the Royal Family greater protection from FOI was passed.[20]
The Campaign continues to press for improvements to the FOI Act. In particular to:
- ensure FOI applies properly to contractors providing public services
- introduce tighter time limits for responding to requests and for them to be enforced more effectively
- extend the Act's public interest test to the 'absolute' exemptions
- allow requesters to specify that they want access to actual copies of documents not just the information in them
- extend the 6 month time limit within which the Information Commissioner can prosecute authorities which deliberately destroy requested records – the Government agreed to this change in 2012, but it has not yet been implemented.[21]
