ABSTRACT
Amongst the various justifications for freedom of information (FoI) increasing public participation, or improving the opportunities available for the public to contribute to policy making, has always seemed one of the most significant. The introduction to the Government’s consultative document on the Freedom of Information Bill (Home Office 1999) noted that it formed part of a programme of constitutional reform which aimed ‘to involve people more closely in the decisions which affect their lives’. The ways in which people might be involved in those decisions, or the limitations to their involvement, were not made clear in the consultative document nor, of course, are they explained in the Act, other than in the form of its exemptions. It may be assumed that more information will provide the public with an enhanced capacity to hold decision makers accountable for their actions, but it is not evident that the increased availability of information will enable them to play a more effective role in the policy making process. Indeed, as Simon James has noted, where there has been increased public involvement in decision making, the contribution of FoI may only have been marginal (James 2006).
