Rishi Sunak’s government placed a record number of blocks on freedom of information requests in its first three months, leading to accusations of a “culture of concealment”. New figures show that the government gave out information in full in only 33.6% of cases in which it held the data during the first three months of Sunak’s administration. Just 3,895 of 11,597 “resolvable requests” were granted in full. It represents a record low for freedom of information requests, compared with a 56% rate of information published in full in David Cameron’s first quarter as prime minister, 44% under Theresa May, and 43% under Boris Johnson, according to data on requests to central government departments and bodies. Labour criticised Sunak’s lack of transparency, saying it undermined the prime minister’s promise on taking office that he would run a government of “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”.
The opposition also highlighted figures from April showing that during Sunak’s time as chancellor, the Treasury plunged from the middle to the bottom of the Whitehall rankings for the percentage of information requests granted. Over the course of the whole of last year, the proportion of information requests granted in full by Whitehall departments hit a record low of 39%, down from 40% the year before. But from January to March 2023, the government’s transparency rate fell again to just 33.6%. The Treasury remains at the bottom with an 18% rate of granting information during the first quarter of the year, compared with 80% of requests answered in full by the Wales Office and 71% by the attorney general’s office. Overall, a record number of requests were received, 16,853, which is an increase of 24% compared with the same quarter the year before.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “The culture of concealment that Rishi Sunak embedded at the Treasury is now creeping its way across the whole of Whitehall. No sooner has he got behind the desk in 10 Downing Street than the flow of information disclosures from the government has dried up. “During his time as chancellor, we saw him desperately attempting to cover up the evidence of his incompetent management of the economy and his flagrant waste of public money. And now as prime minister, it is the failures of the whole government he is trying to hide.” In response, a government spokesperson said: “This government is committed to transparency. That is why, despite receiving the highest number of FoI requests on record in the first quarter of this year, 86% were responded to in time. “We also proactively publish more information outside of the Freedom of Information Act than ever before. “Where requests for information are refused, reasons can include national security implications, protecting personal information and requests where the relevant information has already been published.” The government has increasingly been criticised over its approach to freedom of information in recent years, particularly its use of a central “clearing house” to approve the release of material. Last year, more than 100 journalists, politicians and campaigners signed an open letter warning that the UK’s freedom of information laws were being undermined by a lack of resources and government departments obstructing lawful requests. The signatories include the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Katharine Viner, the editor of the Observer, Paul Webster, as well as the shadow solicitor general, Andy Slaughter, the former Brexit secretary David Davis, and the former Green party leader Caroline Lucas.