The committee was taking evidence yesterday during its post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Lord O’Donnell said: “No-one knows whether a piece of paper is actually going to be made public or not. We should allow a space where ministers can disagree with each other.” He added that FoI is deterring people from taking notes on meetings, which makes for “worse government”.
Joining O’Donnell for cross-examination was Professor the Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield. He argued that the Act has created a better--informed electorate, saying: “Could an elector cast an informed vote if he or she wanted to? Until the FoI Act, very probably not.”