Local newspaper the Eastern Daily Press has been told by the newly formed Ministry of Justice that it is seeking more time to respond to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request from the East Anglian newspaper. If the amendments proposed to the FoI go through, it is likely this sort of obfuscation will become, once again, commonplace.
Newspaper the Eastern Daily Press has requested documents using the FoI to discover what improvements have been made to the management of offenders after an earlier investigation by the newspaper discovered that offenders were removing electronic tags. By removing the tags offenders cannot be monitored by the police.
In a response to the newspaper, the Ministry of Justice has asked for more time to decide whether it is in the public interest to release the papers and figures. Janet Preston of the National Offender Management Scheme's open government unit at the Ministry of Justice said in a reply to the paper, "Although the Freedom of Information Act carries a presumption in favour of disclosure, it provides exemptions which may be used to withhold information in specified circumstances."
Central government departments have to respond to FoI requests within 20 days, but can make requests for an extension to 40 workings days.
In proposals made by the government back in November to reform FoI, including adding the time it takes to consider a request to the overall cost to an individual request. This in turn is likely to put requesters off, especially individuals and local newspapers. The government has been re-considering its proposed reforms and will announce in three months time what changes will be made to the Freedom of Information Act.
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