York Press report:

COMPANIES could be charged for some Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to Selby District Council under new proposals.

The authority may look at using changes to Government legislation to impose a fee on firms asking for large amounts of “complex information”, if the recipients are planning to use it to make money.

It said there were currently no plans to introduce similar charges for members of the public, but the Campaign for Freedom of Information has stressed that companies – including the media – should not automatically be asked to pay for FOI responses.

You can read the full story here. 

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.