Thread by @owenboswarva

Video of @CommonsDCMS's pre-appointment hearing this morning with John Edwards, the Government's preferred candidate for Information Commissioner parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/15… #FOI #dataprotection

I haven't watched the whole session yet, but 🤦

https://twitter.com/CampaignFoI/status/1435935407959646210

#GDPR be like 🤔

Edwards on #FOI: "For some requests, I think it is legitimate to ask a requester to meet the cost of some of that administration. Otherwise, you see, there is a potential for cross-subsidisation of people who are over-using or even abusing those rights …"

Not great.

But I see what happened here. @KevinBrennanMP was asking Edwards (at 10:56) about Government funding of ICO's #FOI work – and whether that presented a conflict. Edwards misunderstood and responded with a view on the cost burden to public bodies. (Brennan circles back at 11:00.)

"One of things that I think I would be interested in working with Cabinet Office and others in Government [about] is the extent to which fostering a culture of proactive release of information might help with some of the bottlenecks described …"

*looks to camera*