Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 2
Ninth Report - The Cabinet Office Freedom of Information Clearing House
Published 29 Apr 2022
Paragraph 20
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee The Cabinet Office Freedom of Information Clearing House All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
A greater level of transparency is required about the Clearing House. To further allay concerns about the Clearing House, a greater volume of data on its performance should be published. As a minimum, the Cabinet Office needs to publish the same level of Clearing House information as previously on the number of referrals to the Clearing House split by Department and month. Echoing our predecessor Committee, this should be disclosed on a quarterly basis. The Cabinet Office should also publish data on casework volume split by referral category and timeliness against ICO and legal guidelines.
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Ninth Report - The Cabinet Office Freedom of Information Clearing House (HC 505), paragraph 20, 29 April 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 July 2022.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government largely does not adopt the Committee's recommendations, and in place of an external ICO audit it is relying on an internal review led by Sue Langley OBE.
- On transparency, the government "notes" the Committee's concerns but its "present view" is that quarterly statistics on referrals would be "a disproportionate use of resources for a de minimis function".
- On the ICO audit, it considers an internal review "a proportionate response"; the Langley review will look at whether further information should be published, and the government will "update Parliament and the Committee in due course".
- On practice, it states that all FOI requests are handled "on an applicant blind basis" and that it is "legitimate" for Special Advisers to assist on requests. It says it would be "wrong" for the Cabinet Office to intervene in another department's procedures.
- On the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, it says the exemption was agreed by both Houses and it "has no plans to revisit this decision". Work to revise guidance on non-corporate communication channels "has now resumed".