Irish FOI 10th anniversary

The Irish Information Commissioner, Emily O'Reilly, is hosting a conference on Thursday (15 June) to mark the first decade of FOI in Ireland and the 10th anniversary of the Commissioner's office.

The Commissioner has also launched a Special Report 'Freedom of Information - The First Decade', an absolutely fascinating read. The report and the Commissioner's conference speech are available from http://www.oic.gov.ie/en/LatestNews/

I am sure that FOI has played, and continues to play, a vital role in our democracy. Furthermore, I am sure that FOI is here to stay. At the same time there is a real danger of complacency regarding the value of FOI as part of that wider set of arrangements which are meant to promote and preserve an open, liberal and democractic society...

I think it is only fair to declare that, from my perspective, our current amended FOI legislation marks a step backwards from the commitment to transparency and accountability, and the promotion of open government and an open society, which were the hallmarks of the FOI Act 1997. There is no reason to believe that the concerns which first prompted our FOI legislation are any less relevant today than they were ten years ago.

New guidance on FOI for public bodies

ICO press release
14 May 2008

New guidance is being published today for public authorities on how to handle requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

The booklet, Hints for Practitioners handling FOI and EIR requests, has been produced in collaboration between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The guidance provides FOI practitioners with advice on best practice in responding to requests for information. It will also help to ensure that freedom of information requests are handled consistently across the public sector.

Full press release (pdf)

Download Hints for Practitioners Handling FOI and EIR requests (pdf) (1.3MB)

SIC guidance

The following further new guidance has been published by the Scottish Information Commissioner:

'National Security and Defence' (Section 31 & Regulation 10(5)(e))
'International relations' (Section 32 & Regulation 10(5)(a))
'Prohibitions on disclosure' (Section 26)
'Audit Functions' (Section 40)

Read the guidance here.

Policy advice released after months not decades

This article by Maurice Frankel appeared in Press Gazette on 2 May 2008

In the past, officials' advice to ministers, and the discussions leading to it, have been confidential. You could see it after 30 years, but not before. The Freedom of Information Act has shattered that convention.

Whitehall argues that officials need to be able to tell ministers, in private, what is wrong with their proposals. If their advice is disclosed and used against ministers, civil servants may pull their punches. Policies will not be properly scrutinised.

But the Information Tribunal has rejected the view that all such discussions need decades of secrecy. It has ordered disclosure of some material after only months. Despite two High Court challenges, the government has failed to overturn its approach.

Read the full article.

Government ordered to release CBI lobbying documents

Friends of the Earth
Press release 1 May 08

The Government has been ordered to disclose previously secret records of lobbying by business group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), in a judgment published today (Thursday 1 May 2008), following a court case won by environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth.

In July 2005 Friends of the Earth requested details of lobbying meetings between the CBI and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that had taken place shortly after the last General Election [1]. The information included records of monthly meetings between Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson, and Director General of the CBI, Digby Jones. The information also includes the notes of a private away-day between senior CBI and DTI officials shortly after the last election.

In 2007 the Information Commissioner ordered the DTI to release most of the information requested by Friends of the Earth.

However, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) - where Lord Jones is now a Minister - appealed to the Information Tribunal to overturn that decision .
...
In a ruling published today (Thursday 1 May 2008), the Tribunal ruled that nearly all of the disputed information must be released because there is a strong public interest in understanding how lobbyists influence government. In this case it is not possible to distinguish whether the CBI was neutrally advising or influencing government so there is a clear case for releasing the information in the public interest [5]. The Tribunal found that the lack of a lobbying disclosure system as they have in the USA increased the need for transparency.
...
Phil Michaels, Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth, said: "We welcome this very important Information Tribunal decision.

"The Tribunal has recognised the strong public interest in members of the public having access to lobbying records and has recognised that transparency is particularly important where a group like the CBI has privileged access to Government to push their views.

"It is crucial that the Government now changes its outmoded culture of secrecy and recognises the importance of transparency in its dealings with lobby groups."

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Information Commissioner and Friends of the Earth (pdf)

SIC guidance

New 'Future Publication' and 'Relations within the United Kingdom' guidance has been published by the Scottish Information Commissioner.

Read the guidance here.

Scottish Executive FOI disclosures

A couple of interesting recent disclosures on the Scottish Executive's disclosure log:

SIC Decisions 040/2008 and 052/2008: Information relating to the possibility of building new nuclear power stations or proposals to extend the lives of existing nuclear stations.
The Scottish Government has been required by the Scottish Information Commissioner (Decision 040/2008) to release copies of 4 papers, previously withheld, relating to building, and extending the life of nuclear power stations.
28/04/2008 - Government

SIC Decisions 052/2008 and 040/2008: the possible siting of new nuclear power stations in Scotland.
The Scottish Government has been required by the Scottish Information Commissioner (Decision 052/2008) to release copies of 4 papers, previously withheld, relating to building new nuclear power stations.
28/04/2008 - Government

SIC Decision 039/2008: Information relating to the drafting of response to UK Energy Review.
The Scottish Government has been required by the Scottish Information Commissioner (Decision 039/2008) to release copies of 8 papers, previously withheld, relating to the UK Energy Review.
22/04/2008 - Government

Local Govt Ombudsman FOI petition

There is an E-Petition on the Downing Street website calling for the removal of the statutory prohibition on disclosure in section 32 of the Local Government Act 1974, which prevents the Local Government Ombudsman from disclosing information obtained in the course of, or for the purposes of, an investigation under the FOI Act.

See http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/LGOandFOI/ for further details and to sign the petition.

CFOI submission to 30 year rule review

The Campaign for Freedom of Information has responded to the review of the 30 year rule set up by the Prime Minister. The response summarises the 7 Information Tribunal decisions to date dealing with advice or internal discussion and points out that in almost every case the Tribunal has held that disclosure should have taken place at the time of the request, a few years or months after the decision. It says that this material should now be proactively released after 15 years, though if necessary, the reduction could be brought in in two stages, starting with 20 years initially.

Read the full response here (pdf).

Freedom of Information: Private Sector

House of Commons Written Answers
24 Apr 2008 : Column 2248W

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress he has made in his assessment of the desirability of extending the remit of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to private companies deemed to be delivering public functions. [201309]

Mr. Straw: The Government received over 130 responses to its consultation on extending the coverage of the Freedom of Information Act to organisations exercising functions of a public nature. The consultation officially concluded on 1 February 2008 but a number of responses received up to a month later were accepted and are being taken into account.

The Government are continuing to analyse the responses and assess the desirability and implications of designating additional public authorities under the Act.