Media roundup

Birmingham Evening Mail 7th March - March of the phone masts
"Birmingham could be flooded with almost 200 new phone masts by the end of the year according to figures revealed today.....The proposals for the roll-out of mobile phone communications in 2005 were sent to the planning department at the end of last year. The Evening Mail can today reveal them under information gathered under the Freedom of Information Act."

Evening gazette (Teeside) 7th March - Wait is over at last
"The family of a man killed in a train accident have finally received a secret report into his death after an agonising nine-and-a-half year wait. Earlier this year, Jeremy Fowler, 40, wrote to the HSE asking for the full report to be released under the new Freedom of Information Act.This was successful but parts of the report, including eye witness accounts, are still missing because of the Data Protection Act."

The Scotsman 7th March - Dirty little secrets of capital's top restaurants
"A NUMBER of Edinburgh’s top restaurants have at one time failed to meet hygiene standards set by health and safety inspectors, it has been revealed. Reports obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show some of the capital’s leading restaurants have fallen foul of environmental laws which aim to ensure that foods served on their premises are fit for human consumption."

The Times March 7th - Election officials warned ministers of post vote flaws
"MINISTERS were given warning by election officials that a postal voting scandal was looming shortly before local polls that sparked claims of stolen votes. Returning officers wrote to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister saying that concern about fraud was putting the integrity of the elections process at risk, according to papers released to The Times under the Freedom of Information Act."

Daily Telegraph 8th March - Tories missed their chance to make Bank independent
"Secret Treasury papers released by Labour yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act show how leading civil servants advised ministers in 1988 and 1991 that independence could help deliver low inflation for the long term."
Read the HMT documents in full