🔴A damning report by @openDemocracy called #AccessDenied has revealed the ways in which the UK government has attacked the FOI Act.
"Secrecy is now a signature of Boris Johnson’s rule" the report says.
A 🧵on some of the findings of the report.
"Secrecy is now a signature of Boris Johnson’s rule" the report says.
A 🧵on some of the findings of the report.
https://twitter.com/openDemocracy/status/1452651433099210752?s=20
#AccessDenied report highlights how transparency in 2020 in terms of FOI disclosure rates by the govt has been the lowest ever. 1/8 
@openDemocracy report implicates the Cabinet Office of being even less transparent in comparison to other depts, pointing to how it blocked "requests from MPs about its use of public money to conduct political research" 2/8
#AccessDenied report further looked into the role of the Clearing House, which deals with high-end public interest FOIs, and found it to be "a secretive, central government unit" --- which is contradictory given the purpose of FOIs is promoting more transparency in governance 3/8
The report by @openDemocracy also reveals how a "web of surveillance was woven around" involving BP, the British Museum & a firm called Welund - which surveilled on an FOI requester 4/8
The report also interesting finds how Stonewalling (which is "point-refusal to communicate") has been used as a tactic to avoid complying to FOI requests - since "without a formal refusal, requesters cannot make a substantive appeal" 5/8
It also uncovered that "Government departments are cynically exploiting a legal loophole to deny timely access to information in the name of the 'public interest'" 6/8
The report shows how govt depts don't do what they are legally required to under FOI Act.
It states: "The FOI Act requires public bodies to provide “advice and assistance” to requesters. But in
2020, departments failed to do so nine times out of ten". 7/8
It states: "The FOI Act requires public bodies to provide “advice and assistance” to requesters. But in
2020, departments failed to do so nine times out of ten". 7/8
It finally says that "FOI regulator is overworked, underfunded and failing badly on enforcement" 8/8
As the @openDemocracy's investigations reiterate, govt actions seriously lack transparency. And we at @allthecitizens are working to hold the govt to account.
If you think what we are doing is imp, please consider signing up for our newlsletter here: keepingthereceipts.substack.com/welcome
If you think what we are doing is imp, please consider signing up for our newlsletter here: keepingthereceipts.substack.com/welcome
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