Norman Lamb wins freedom of information battle

News from The Red Box blog:

A major breakthrough in Freedom of Information rules has happened today, thanks to the tireless work of Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman and FOI expert.

The Information Tribunal has forced Downing Street to release the names of every official, adviser and minister met by the Prime Minister in “internal meetings” during the period of one month.

You can read the full post here.

Update: The Guardian has more:

The ruling by the tribunal, taken with another recent decision to release the minutes of a lobbying meeting between the media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Blair over television rights after a similar lengthy battle with a Guardian reader, could open up the secret world of Whitehall to unprecedented scrutiny.

Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, who led the push to release the information, said: “Slowly but surely the veil of secrecy around Whitehall is being lifted, despite mandarins having to be dragged kicking and screaming to release the information.”