I've blogged before about the changes being suggested by the government in relation to the Freedom of Information Act which could, in effect, make it easier for the government to deny access to politically contentious official information. The government is 'minded' to make two changes:

1. Take into account reading and thinking time when calculating the cost of requests to government
2. Aggregate requests from individuals and organisations, and limit the numbers each can make

This is really important - Freedom of Information, whatever the nuisance levels of it's functioning, is an absolutely vital tool for improving the democratic relationship between formal politics and people. Narrowing it's impact just a year and a half after it came into force - just as it beds in and starts to become ingrained in how governance works - would be a really damaging move.

It had seemed like there wouldn't be any formal public consultation on the proposals but on Monday it looked like the Prime Minister gave assurances that there would be 'very wide' consultation process.

If you want to do something, a few suggestions would be to write to your MP; sign the foi petition at the newly launched e-petition site on the Prime Minister's website (both of those suggestions use tools made by MySociety); or write to your local newspaper. Or just get a bit upset and tell your friends and family.

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