Exclusive: Computer Weekly publishes 'secret' gateway review

This is the first publication of an entire gateway review by an online news service.

Computer Weekly is publishing it because the Office of Government Commerce, which is part of the Treasury, has argued - incorrectly in our view - that the publication of any gateway review would irreparably damage the process.

This OGC argument has been rejected by the Information Commissioner and last week in a ruling by the Information Tribunal.

We agree with the Information Tribunal that the OGC has overstated its case against the publication of two early gateway reviews on ID Cards. An OGC witness told the Information Tribunal that to his knowledge no gateway review has ever been disclosed.

The Tribunal said that should any gateway reviews be published "all parties would be in a better position " to assess whether any harm came to the gateway review process.

The Tribunal ordered that two initial gateway reviews on ID Cards should be published.

It said: "Public interest in served by knowing how a project has been implemented and is being implemented."

The gateway review we're publishing is on the Firecontrol project which is run by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

It is described as a £350m nationally-linked network of nine regional control centres across England. It is part of an investment by the Government to give fire and rescue service resources and specialist equipment to help deal with industrial accidents, terrorist threats and weather-related incidents.