Maurice Frankel of the Campaign for Freedom of Information was kind enough to email OfcomWatch and correct my earlier post on the issue of fees related to FOI requests. He writes:

Requesters won’t actually have to pay �25 an hour for staff time, as the guide suggests. What happens is that the authority will estimate how much time it thinks it will take to find and extract the requested information, and what this would cost assuming a fixed �25 an hour charge for staff time. If this cost exceeds �450 (or �600 for a govt dept) it does not have to supply the information at all. If the cost will be less than �450/�600, it _cannot_ charge for staff time, and can only charge for any photocopies, printouts or postage costs involved. So, as long as your request is reasonably modest in scope, only these incidental charges will be involved.

There you have it, folks. Any FOI stories? Send them our way at blog@ofcomwatch.co.uk - this is an area we intend to monitor closely.