Formal consultation has begun on the Government’s proposed changes to the Freedom of Information Act.

A new set of FOI fees regulations have been drafted, which would allow public authorities to take into account reading time, consideration time and consultation time when deciding how to deal with a request for information, and a 12-week consultation is now under way.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs has issued a consultation paper which asks for views on the draft regulations and whether they would achieve the objective of allowing public authorities to better calculate the actual costs that would be incurred in complying with requests for information.

The consultation is aimed at the media, members of the public, public authorities and campaign groups who have an interest in the proposed changes, who have until March 8 to make their views known.

Government departments can refuse to answer a request if it costs more than £600 to find the information and other authorities can refuse if it costs more than £450, and it is proposed that reading time, consideration time and consultation time should be taken into account when calculating the cost.

The Government is also considering allowing all the requests made to an authority by the same person or organisation to be refused if their combined cost exceeds the £600 or £450 limit.

The consultation paper includes seven questions about the regulations and thresholds.

Before the consultation was launched the proposals had already met with some opposition from the media, MPs and the Campaign for Freedom of Information, which wrote to Baroness Ashton last month detailing how the changes would adversely affect the media and the the public interest.

The letter said: “These proposals, as set out, would neuter the FOI Act as an instrument of scrutiny, accountability and public participation and undermine efforts to move towards a more open culture.

“The Act would remain useful to casual requesters, making occasional requests, while becoming almost unusable for those seeking to use the Act for public purposes.

“Organisations would no longer have any reason to encourage their staff to learn how to use the FOI Act. On the contrary, they would have to train them to avoid making FOI requests, so that they did not ask for information in writing or by e-mail without first confirming that their organisation was content for them to use up what might be the whole of its quota.”

It continued: “Unlike the Act’s exemptions, most of which are subject to a public interest test, the cost limits are absolute. An authority cannot be required to breach them, however compelling the public benefit from disclosure.

“By permitting more requests to be refused, regardless of their contribution to the public interest, the proposals would make it easier for authorities minded to do so to withhold information about dangers to public safety, abuse of power, wasteful spending, unjust treatment of individuals, misconduct in public office, failure to honour commitments or the likely effects of new decisions.”

For more information about the consultation, go to www.dca.gov.uk.