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Cabinet Office blocked probe into government secrecy

MPs told that the department is ‘utterly failing’ transparency laws at parliamentary inquiry

By Adam Bychawski
Cabinet Office blocked probe into government secrecy
An inquiry heard how the Cabinet Office is ’free to self-regulate’ despite ‘major concerns’
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The Cabinet Office blocked an official probe into government secrecy, despite “major public concerns”.

The Information Commissioner’s Office yesterday revealed that it had offered to audit the way the department handles Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. But government officials refused and announced their own internal review instead.

The regulator said it had offered to step in because of a landmark legal victory by openDemocracy earlier this year about the Cabinet Office’s controversial Clearing House unit, which vets FOI requests.

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