Going through the list of e-petitions, I noticed the titled, "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Reject the restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act proposed by the Department of Constitutional Affairs".

More details:-
Quote:

The proposed changes will restrict the number of requests individuals and organisations can make, and allow Government Department to include 'reading time' in fees calculations, greatly increasing the scope for obstruction of legitimate requests. As the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee concluded, there is no need to change the existing fees regime. Indeed, the cost of the Freedom of Information Act is less than was originally projected by the Government, and the transparency provided by the Act can only benefit efficient government.

I believe that it will limit our ability to openly request information to which we would normally have the right to simply because government departments will have access to more excuses for charging for FoI requests which they know that in most cases citizens will just forget the FoI so as to avoid paying.

Personally, I believe it's because the FoI has proven too popular for the government and things it would have liked to have remained silent on it has had to publish when asked to do so under the FoI (!)

Thank you for posting that link, I've just signed!