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openDemocracy

26 Oct, 10 tweets, 6 min read

@JennaCorderoy

🔴 LIVE: Our reporter @JennaCorderoy is about to give evidence to the @CommonsPACAC as part of its inquiry into the ‘Orwellian’ Clearing House.

You can watch it here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/04…

We will bring you all the key updates in this thread 👇

This inquiry was launched after we revealed that the Clearing House - a secretive Cabinet Office unit - was accused of ‘blacklisting’ Freedom of Information requests from journalists, campaigners and others
opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-…

@JennaCorderoy

"The Cabinet Office is fuelling a culture of secrecy," explains @JennaCorderoy.

"It is simply not respecting the law."

When we raised our concerns in our reports #ArtOfDarkness and #AccessDenied, our findings were dismissed

"FOI is incredibly important. I need it as an investigative journalist to get documents and data to support what I am writing. But it is not only important to me, it is important to the public. It allows people to hold those in power to account"

Talking about the members of the Clearing House, Ronnie Cowan MP asks: "Do we know who they are? Or should I put in an FOI to find out?"

The truth is, we don't know. 🤷

We are trying to find this out, but they keep refusing our requests

But we're not giving up. ✊

This entire parliamentary inquiry was brought about as a direct result of our investigations.

It's time-consuming work, and we need your support to make it happen: bit.ly/backopendem

@GeorgeGreenwood

Also giving evidence is Times journalist @GeorgeGreenwood, who is in a number of Information Commissioner battles with the Cabinet Office.

Here he talks about his experience 👇

The Clearing House also blocked the release of sensitive files about the contaminated blood scandal.

Documents show that the Treasury wanted to release the information, but were prevented from releasing by the Cabinet Office unit.

Read the full story: opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-…

"Delays are incredibly bad and there's no repercussions for the Cabinet Office."

Delays mean we can't get hold of vital data and we can't keep our readers informed

@JennaCorderoy

What could be done to improve the system?

"FOI needs a huge reform," says @JennaCorderoy.

"The Clearing House needs to publish more documents about how they operate, their budget, their structure. These are basic public interest questions"

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