MIDDLESBROUGH Council has reaffirmed its commitment to the Freedom of Information Act and will stand against any attempts to weaken it.
The authority has also judged that any additional charges should not be introduced and that instead the Government should consider providing further resources to councils to deal with requests for information.
The stance on FoI has been made by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Board (OSB) in response to an Independent Commission review of the Act.
Around 100,000 public sector organisations who are subject to the FoI Act have been asked for their views.
Councillor Jean Sharrocks, Chair of OSB, said: “The panel felt strongly that we oppose any efforts to weaken FoI provisions and that people’s rights to request information be protected.
“On the issue of charging we felt this could disenfranchise people and so was not appropriate.
“Often the information people require is already published on the Council’s website so we should perhaps be looking to reduce the workload in relation on the back of FoI requests by directing people to that, and also publishing more information proactively.”
In 2005, the first year of the Freedom of Information Act, Middlesbrough Council received less than 300 requests. In 2014 the number was more than 1,300.