DAYS after the General Election in May, the new Conservative Government announced it was considering amending the Freedom of Information Act.

In July a cross-party review of the Act was launched and announced in Parliament through a statement by Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock.

But campaigners have argued that the panel is not independent and consists people who are opposed to the Act in its current form.

Its members include former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who has been critical of the Act in the past, and Lord Carlile of Berriew, who criticised The Guardian when it published information leaked by United States intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowdon.

A consultation paper has now been published calling on people to make submissions.

The Campaign for Freedom of Information group has said the document hints at sweeping restrictions being made to the Act.

Mr Hancock said the review is intended to make sure the Act is still working effectively 10 years after its introduction.

He told Parliament in June the commission would consider whether there was “an appropriate public interest balance between transparency, accountability and the need for sensitive information to have robust protection.”

He also suggested the Act should recognise the need for a “safe space” where policy could be developed and implemented and “frank advice” could be given.

But the Campaign for Freedom of Information said it was concerned the Act could be altered to make it easier to reject requests on cost grounds.

Under the current Act, anyone can ask for information as long as it does not cost more than £600 for a Government department to locate, retrieve and extract it.

For other public bodies the cost limit is £450.

The current monetary limits do not mean people requesting information have to pay a fee, but charges could potentially be recommended by the commission.

The Campaign for Freedom of Information also said it is concerned that the consultation paper suggests the commission wants to make it more difficult to obtain public authorities’ internal discussions, strengthen ministers’ powers to veto disclosures and change the way the Act is enforced.

The Campaign claims the case for strengthening the Act is not on the commission’s agenda.

The Government ran into further criticism over its position on freedom of information last month when the Leader of the House of Commons, Chris Grayling, told MPs the Act was being “misused” by journalists.

In response Campaign for Freedom of Information director Maurice Frankel said: “The Freedom of Information Act exists to help hold government to account, improve the public’s understanding of what it does does, to show whether policies are working and identify where public services need to be improved.

“Journalists are key users of the Act for those purposes and no-one should be surprised if that involves producing ‘stories’. That’s how the public learns what is going on.”

The deadline for comments is midnight on November 20. Submissions can be emailed to foi.commission@justice.gsi.gov.uk or posted to Independent Commission on Freedom of Information, Post Point 9.54, Ninth Floor, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ.

The commission is due to report back at the end of the month.