Two-timing Gordon
As we await a statement from the government on possible changes to the fees regime for FOI requests, there is some interest in the question of what Gordon Brown thinks of it all.
Although an announcement may come soon, it's expected that it would be some time before any changes were actually implemented, since the DCA minister Baroness Cathy Ashton promised there would be a public consultation exercise if ministers 'decide they want to do something quite different around the fees regime' (Q210). In which case a final decision might happen under a Brown premiership.
Gordon Brown's inner circle have made it clear that they would aspire to restore trust in politicians if he becomes prime minister. Will they see FOI in this context? The Information Commissioner certainly deploys his research (paragraph 4.3.19) to put FOI as a factor in the level of trust in public authorities.
So what does Gordon Brown think about FOI? Examining the newly published collection of his speeches since 1997 reveals that 'freedom of information' is mentioned two times in its 436 pages, which hardly suggests that the topic is at the forefront of his mind.
In one case FOI features in a list of citizens' rights; in the other Brown includes as part of the Labour programme for redistributing power from the state to people themselves a proposal for 'free information'.
But does he mean free as in 'not restricted' or free as in 'doesn't cost'?
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