The Cabinet Office blocked the Information Commissioner from auditing its secretive ‘Clearing House’, which has been accused of ‘blacklisting’ journalists seeking government information.
Elizabeth Denham, the outgoing Commissioner who steps down on Tuesday, told the Public Administration and Accounts Committee the move would “increase suspicion” about the operation.
The Clearing House has been accused of blocking the release of politically sensitive information, and circulates a lists of "known journalists" - including Mirror reporters - across Whitehall.
Ms Denham said the Cabinet Office had told her team the unit is run for an “administrative purpose”, to “streamline requests” made to multiple departments.
But she was “frustrated and disappointed” when her team asked to audit the team, to “get under the bonnet” of how it works and demonstrate to the public that it was not “a discriminatory process that adds delay to FOI requests”, and they refused.
She said: “We looked at the allegations and we offered to Cabinet Office to carry out an audit, and really what we wanted to do was follow the process of a request, to understand the criteria with which government departments are referring cases to the clearing house.
“We really wanted to get under the bonnet and see how it all works.
“And the Cabinet Office declined our offer of a voluntary audit.”
The Information Commissioner does not have the power to demand a mandatory audit on government department.
Ms Denham added: “I think the Cabinet Office missed an opportunity there because we would have gone in and provided evidence of the way that it operates in a way that would be helpful to ease some of the concerns and the opaqueness.
“So I think it's just increased suspicion of the Clearing House instead of just allowing us in the doors as a regulator for us to reveal to the public how it operates.
“Because it could be entirely legitimate - we just don't know.”
An investigation by OpenDemocracy, while Michael Gove was in charge of the Cabinet Office, found the secretive Clearing House unit gives advice to other government departments on how to avoid disclosing information.
And documents obtained by the Mirror found requests had been flagged as having been made by journalists.
Official guidance states FOI requests, which can be made by any member of the public, should be ‘applicant blind’.
That means officials aren’t supposed to look up the person asking for information, or change their response as a result.
The department also issues a 'round robin' email to Whitehall departments, giving advice on how to deal with politically sensitive requests.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "A Clearing House function has existed since 2004 to ensure consistency in responses to information requests.
"We are conducting an internal review on the way Clearing House is run to ensure it is effective and as transparent as possible."
