Advice from the Clearing House
When freedom of information started in 2005, the government set up an internal process to ensure consistency across different departments. It created a within what was then the Department for Constitutional Affairs, to coordinate responses to . In turn the Clearing House referred some - the even trickier cases - on to the Cabinet Office.
We should soon find out more about how this system operated at the start, thanks to a leading international academic expert on FOI, Professor . The Information Commissioner has just that the Cabinet Office should comply with an FOI request of his about cases passed from the Clearing House to the Cabinet Office.
Some critics have regarded this central machinery to oversee departmental FOI handling as an 'Orwellian' apparatus designed to maintain secrecy. On the other hand DCA civil servants have insisted to me that the Clearing House has actually encouraged reluctant departments to release more than they would have done if left to their own devices.
I recently obtained some information from the Department for Children, Schools and Families which may shed light on this, in one case anyway, when I asked for the material they had on me under the Data Protection Act.
It turns out that according to one briefing sent by an official to a ministerial committee, the Department for Education withheld information from me 'on Clearing House advice'. (The Information Commissioner later decided that some of these documents should be given to me.)
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I am sorry, but I can top that - I have had a complaint against the Cabinet Office "pending" with the Information Commissioner for mort than two years and still it is unanswered.
The Cabinet Office were so disgustingly insensitive that they even used the July bombings in London as a reason for the delay in their replying to me on one occasion.
What is more, the Cabinet Office have now instructed all other government departments that should they receive any requests from me about anything, thay are to be sent to the Cabinet Office for review before being responded to.
I have made requests of those departments who admitted this to me for my personal data under the Data Protection Act and have been told it is not disclosable due to "National Security" reasons.
Fine, if I lived in Berlin in 1933 - but a supposedly democratic UK in 2007?
Just by way of an update, the "very senior" person at the Information Commissioner's Office whom is supposedly carrying out a review into the handling of my request, informed me four months ago (after only 30 months) that he was near to being able to issue a decision notice in the case.
I was of course interested to read in his letter that when he asked the Cabinet Office for a copy of the information I had requested, they refused to send it to him, choosing instead to allow him the oportunity to view it at their office in London!
Four months and several days down the line and no decision notice has been forthcoming and having written again to the ICO asking for an update have not had any reply.
Considering how much time, effort and cost this has now involved, I am sadly left wondering what is the point in bothering to ask for anything at all...perhps that is the idea!