The government recently completed a consultation exercise on adding a cost limit to FoI request, despite precious little evidence that it was necessary.

The PAG response is attached. We wait for the results.

Attachments:

File	File size	Downloads
PAG FoI cost limit consultation	332 Kb	251

The title holds nothing to disagree with, no­ one in their right mind could argue with it. What I question is definition.

The definition of abuse, as used by the speaker, does not tally with the definition which I am familiar with. The word abuse is a combination of two other words those being 'ab' which is used normally as a prefix meaning 'off', 'away from' as in words such as 'abduct, abnormal, abuse'. The remainder is the word use meaning, as we all know, how something is employed as in 'use a hammer', 'use a shopping basket' the use of a word or words. In this discourse however the word abuse was used in a very narrow context, or so it seemed.

Here it appeared that the word abuse implied the presence of violent undertones, both in language and also physical behaviour, this to the exclusion of any possible acceptability of the language or physical action under consideration.