Veil to be lifted on secret world of Whitehall

Life at the heart of government will be laid bare this weekend when ministers publish hundreds of previously unseen documents detailing meetings between top civil servants.

All government departments must comply with the new freedom of information rules, which will allow greater public access to the closed world of Whitehall mandarins.

About 250 departments and non-governmental bodies will have to comply with the new scheme, but ministerial meetings will remain private. Yvette Cooper, the freedom of information minister, said ministers had to be able to have "free and frank discussions".

She said each Whitehall department had decided what was in the public interest and what was exempt from publication under the exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act. If members of the public disagreed with a refusal to grant disclosure they could take their case to the information commissioner, who had the power to make a ruling that would bind the minister.

Ms Cooper said one of the more "intriguing" pieces of previously classified information to be made available was a Ministry of Defence report of an alleged UFO sighting at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1980, including eyewitness accounts.