Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Paragraph: 19
Through disclosures about the Clearing House over time, the Government has sought to make amends...
Conclusion
Through disclosures about the Clearing House over time, the Government has sought to make amends for the absence of information regarding a core component of the Government’s Freedom of Information machinery. However, the level of disclosure falls short of what was previously available, and what was requested by our predecessor Committee. We note that data on the volume of cases was previously available, showing number of references by Department on a monthly basis. Experts in Freedom of Information—including the Information Commissioner’s Office itself—still find themselves unable to comment on whether the Clearing House provides a necessary or helpful role in that landscape. We note with concern the lack of effective record keeping in the Clearing House on its performance, which falls below the standard expected for a central Government body.
Paragraph Reference:
19
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government notes the Committee’s concerns about the level of transparency about the Cabinet Office’s Clearing House function. Information about the Cabinet Office’s role in Freedom of Information (FOI) and the Clearing House function, including a list of departments within the Clearing House’s remit, the referral criteria and an exemplar referral form, is available on gov.uk and is in line with information published by previous administrations. The Clearing House in operation today is a small-scale advisory function, rather than the standalone unit that existed in the Ministry of Justice and the then Department for Constitutional Affairs. As such, the Government’s present view is that creating statistics on the number of cases referred to be published on a quarterly basis would be a disproportionate use of resources for a de minimis function. The Government has previously released the figures to the Committee of the number of “round robins” in 2020.1 Round robins are requests made to more than one department and that have repeat characteristics. The figures for this category of referral are available because each newly identified round robin is allocated a unique reference number for the list which is circulated to departments twice-weekly. To illustrate further the minimal scale of this function, of the 35,279 FOI requests made to government departments in 2021,2 only 250 were identified as round robins. 1 Letter from Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on Cabinet Office’s Freedom of Information Clearing House, dated 1 February 2022 2 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/freedom-of-information-statistics-annual-2021/freedom-of- information-statistics-annual-2021-bulletin 2 The Cabinet Office Freedom of Information Clearing House: Government Response The Committee will note that the terms of reference of Sue Langley OBE’s review include the question as to whether there is sufficient information available to the public and what further information should be published, and we look forward to receiving her recommendations on this point.