From the Private Eye Publication: So sensitive were Cabinet Office mandarins about disclosing rampant junketing across Whitehall over recent years that when the Eye waged an ultimately successful battle to unearth the details, they orchestrated a cover-up that stretched to deliberately breaking their own freedom of information laws.

Only now, following the intervention of the Information Commissioner, can some details of this cover-up be revealed.

Back in September 2007, the Eye made FoI requests to all Whitehall departments for details of hospitality received by their top officials from April 2004. Blind panic appears to have ensued as the “clearing house” for requests in the Cabinet Office put out advice to all departments that the requests should be refused.

A deceitful and arguably illegal ploy
For schmoozing between 2004 and 2006, “departments should cite the cost threshold” (an exemption from disclosure if it would take more than 3.5 days to find the information). Since departments are required by the civil service code to keep registers of hospitality and the Cabinet Office could not foresee departments’ time costs, this was.... Read More: In the Back