Information Freedom - UK style

The Independent reports: Hundreds of thousands of secret Whitehall files are being shredded before the public gains the right to see them under the Freedom of Information Act on 1 January.

Details about the nuclear industry, trade deals and investigations into wrongdoing by companies may now never see the light of day because of shredding by the DTI. The department has almost doubled the number of files it has destroyed since the Act became law in 2000.

The MoD has admitted that the volume of files "centrally reviewed" for destruction has also risen in the past two years. In 2001-02, 1,787 linear metres of records were reviewed for shredding. But by the following year the number of files reviewed increased dramatically to 3,707linear metres of records, most of which were destroyed. In 2003-04 the number reviewed for shredding was 3,649, of which 3,211 were destroyed, far higher than in previous years.

Under the legislation, public bodies will be able to turn down applications if the cost of answering the query would be more than six hundred pounds or be against the public interest. Link