Has Freedom of Information Led to More Transparent Government?

Increasing openness and transparency is the core objective of Britain’s FOI Act but FOI is only one driver of this. To evaluate whether FOI is increasing transparency, the chapter begins by looking at other forces for transparency. It then examines to what extent FOI has allowed the public greater access to information about central government. It does this in two ways: first, by analysing the extent of information released proactively; and, second, by asking how open central government is, particularly about its own activities. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.