'Orwellian' government team accused of keeping 'journalists blacklist' to be overhauled

Controversial 'clearing house' - accused of blocking the spread of politically sensitive information - will be replaced by a 'centre of excellence'

Image: PA)

An 'Orwellian' Cabinet Office body that has been accused of blocking the release of politically sensitive data is to be replaced by a 'centre of excellence'.

And a "rotating" list identifying requests from "known journalists" will be reorganized and created

The Clearing House, which monitors freedom of information (FOI) requests across government, has been accused of 'blacklisting' journalists seeking information.< /p>

And it circulated a daily round robin email containing details of all the requests Clearing House is advising on, along with the name of the person requesting the information and advice on how to deal with them.< /p>

An investigation was launched into the team in April, after the Mirror and the openDemocracy website revealed that charities, activists and journalists from the Daily Mirror, Guardian, Times and BBC were included all on so-called "blacklists".

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The review, chaired by senior civil servant Sue Langley, reported today and found that the process of including claimants' names on the 'rotating' list was 'not necessary ".

Some 89% of stakeholders who responded to the report said they had "specific concerns and uncertainties" about the release of claimants' names.

Official guidelines state that Freedom of Information requests, which can be made by any member of the public, must be "requester-blind".

This means that officials are not expected to track down the person requesting information or modify their response accordingly.

“There are other, less intrusive ways to achieve the purpose of the Round Robin list,” Langley added.

The report states that FOI teams have "wholeheartedly tried to demonstrate their commitment to transparency and to legally comply with the legal obligations and spirit of the FOIA."

But he acknowledged there were "significant delays" in response times and that the government needed to "build trust" in its commitment to transparency.

In accordance with the recommendations of the report, the Clearing House will be closed and replaced by an "FOI Center of Excellence".

And in a victory for activists, the use of the round robin list will be reduced to a minimum and it will no longer include the names of claimants.

In the future, the...