'Lord Falconer has indicated he is prepared to back moves that would cut the number of freedom of information requests being made to Whitehall and the wider public sector.

... the constitutional affairs secretary said he was "minded" to include reading time, consideration time and consultation time in the calculation of the appropriate limit (currently £600) above which requests could be refused on cost grounds.

At present, only time spent searching for information is included in assessing whether it is too expensive to gather, while time spent then deciding whether or not to release it is excluded.

And requests to each public authority or government department from the same person or body could be aggregated to further reduce administrative burdens.'

http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200610/d5e48710-789b-4355-b934-2c54547ae9d9.htm

Well I suppose he's got a big hole in his budget now he's wasted all that money on Carter....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2403188,00.html

... the Department for Constitutional Affairs who recently published its review of the Freedom of Information Act .... have refused a Freedom of Information Act request to release background information ... on its review of the Freedom of Information Act ...

http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/B3DBCF6AD1CC130E80257219004282C9?OpenDocument

'The Government has drafted amended FOI fees regulations which will allow public authorities to take into account more comprehensively the work involved in dealing with an FOI request. This consultation asks for views on the draft Regulations.'

http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/dpr2007/cp2806.htm

- or alternatively ...

'... the draft regulations ... could allow government departments to refuse more requests for information on the grounds of excessive cost.'

http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/EC287E3CE84E52F580257244003D73B0?OpenDocument

... see also Written Ministerial Statement from Bridget Prentice