by political editor Paul Francis

The government should consider charging for Freedom of Information as a way of deterring frivolous requests, according to Kent County Council.

The authority suggests the fee as part of its response to a review of the Freedom of Information Act being conducted by MPs.

In a three-page submission, KCC also argues public bodies should be allowed to take into account more factors when weighing up whether dealing with a request would exceed statutory time limits.

The council dealt with 1,819 FOI requests last year compared to 504 in 2005 when the Act became law.

It said: "The introduction of a (nominal?) fee... may deter frivolous requests or the ‘round robin’ requests from commercial companies, journalists and the media."

It cites the recent case of a request from a member of the public asking about defective red pens as having no value.

KCC also recommends the Act should be "more prescriptive about cost limits" and urges the Ministry of Justice to allow public bodies to include reading information and redacting - blanking out information such as names - when assessing the length of time it would take to deal with a request.

Despite these misgivings, KCC acknowledges the Act has "definitely forced traditionally secretive cultures to become more transparent" and says public bodies "have been forced to accept they are going to be subject to scrutiny and rightly so."

Cllr Roger Gough (Con), KCC cabinet member for corporate services, said the council did not want changes that would have a chilling effect on the media, but a balance had to be struck.

He said: "There are undoubtedly some aspects of the Act that are difficult to deal with, but we want to adopt a sensible position. We do not want to deter sensible queries and have a chilling effect."

KCC’s suggestion of a fee is similar to a proposal being put forward by the Ministry of Justice. It too says a charge for dealing with requests should be considered.

MPs will consider the evidence submitted by 113 different organisations in its review.

The KM Group is among a number of media groups to respond to the consultation - arguing against the introduction of any charges.

The Freedom of Information Act came into force in 2005.

It allows anyone to ask more than 100,000 different public bodies for information and if held, the information should be disclosed.

However, the Act has 28 qualified exemptions subject to the public interest test, which allows bodies to withold information if they believe it would not be in the public interest to disclose it.

The Act was pivotal in forcing the House of Commons to disclose details of MPs expenses.

While it is free to make requests, authorities can refuse to deal with requests if they exceed notional cost limits covering the estimated time needed to deal with a request.

For central government, the limit is £600 while for councils and others, it is £450.