We have stressed that Freedom of Information is, in practice, a balancing exercise between the right to know, the right to privacy and the need for, or duty of, confidentiality.
Some information is exempted from the right to know altogether.
The Home Office have told us that the Bill strikes an effective balance between the right to know, the right to privacy and the need for confidentiality. Others have argued that the Bill tends to lean too far towards confidentiality. We determine whether, taken together, they define the proper balance. A purpose clause 55. A number of our witnesses have suggested that one of the ways in which the Bill could be rebalanced would be to add a statement of its overriding objective of improving public access to information by means of a purpose clause.