Freedom of Information Act to face greater scrutiny

The disclosure of private letters sent by the Prince of Wales to Labour ministers is likely to increase pressure for a further review of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI), say lawyers.

The now infamous 'spider' letters were released yesterday after a ten-year legal battle between the Guardian newspaper and the government, which ended in March, following a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Court of Appeal's decision that a government veto on publication was unlawful.

Commenting on the case, Emma Godding, head of information law at Bevan Brittan, said: 'The new government will need to decide how it will respond to the judgment and no doubt the Act will face greater scrutiny. The use of the FoI has expanded way beyond the scale anyone anticipated when it was introduced a little over ten years ago.

'The Supreme Court drew a line in the sand, making it clear that the government of the day cannot overrule the decisions of the courts in relation to the application of FoI simply because it disagrees with the courts' view.'

Following the publication of Prince Charles's 27 letters, the government confirmed it would consider amending the FoI to make it easier for officials to withhold information from the public.

Research by the Institute for Government found that public bodies dealt with more than 46,000 FoI requests in 2014, with the Department for Work and Pensions receiving the most requests, followed by the Ministry of Justice and then the Ministry of Defence.

Godding said that it would be politically challenging for any government to attempt to withdraw from what is now a well-established access to information regime.

'However, the cost and large amounts of time involved in handling FoI requests are now significant issues. One option is for the government to consider further limiting its scope, but that in itself could face legal challenge,' she added.