Freedom Of Information: The time has come to end the 30-year rule of disclosure

Public access to sensitive government information after the end of the Second World War has been controlled by first the 50-year rule and, since 1967, the 30-year rule of disclosure.

While much of the material released to the National Archives under this regime has been of interest to historians, very little has been of any use to those who want, or need, to know the business of the government of the day. So it is very welcome that Gordon Brown has decided to consider proposals for a less restrictive set of rules for placing important government information in the public domain.

Mr Brown has asked Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers and member of the Press Complaints Commission, to lead a review team responsible for coming up with suggestions for prioritising the release of documents that wouldn't normally see the light of day for at least 30 years.

Such a move was inevitable after the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which granted a general right of disclosure to the public at any time. What Mr Dacre and his team must do is find new ways of releasing information that is no longer nationally or personally sensitive.

It is clear that ministers and their Whitehall advisers will put up a fight. Many Freedom of Information requests are routinely blocked as part of a defensive strategy aimed at reducing the reach of the new right-to-know law. But in the last year the Government and Parliament have lost a series of key battles.

The Information Commissioner and the Information Tribunal have made it clear that harmless information that has been refused disclosure on political grounds should not remain secret.

The "30-year rule" is commonly used to describe the point at which records created by government departments are transferred to theNational Archives at Kew, and at which most of these records are released to the public. In fact, there is no single "rule", but two that work together: the Public Records Act, which requires government departments to transfer records to the National Archives; and the Freedom of Information Act, which requires most records to be released to the public by the time they are 30 years old unless a specific exemption applies.

However, not everything does get released when transferred to the National Archives. The Freedom of Information Act has reduced the number of records that can stay closed, but a very few remain so for a defined period. Examples include murder files, or records which relate to current defence or security, foreign relations and so on.

Clearly there is great scope for subjective interpretation in the operation of these complex rules and judging from the cases I have been involved with over the past three years, it is charitable to say that Whitehall officials tend to err on the side of caution.

In his report, Mr Dacre must take account of the role of the civil servant in citing exemptions or authorising what cannot be released before 30 years has elapsed. His review team will report to the Prime Minister later this summer.

r.verkaik@independent.co.uk