Thursday, June 02, 2005

Media roundup

Sunday Mirror - Govt documents dumped in the street
"TOP-SECRET files from John Prescott's office revealing private details of Britain's most senior politicians have been found dumped on a grass verge."

Irish Times - Minister may act after ruling on schools
"Minister for Education Mary Hanafin is to examine how information in school-inspection reports can be made available more widely to parents after the Supreme Court yesterday ruled against their publication in The Irish Times. In a landmark ruling, the first involving the Freedom of Information Act, the Supreme Court said publication could lead to the compilation of school league tables."

RTE (Ireland) - Court overturns adoption records ruling
"The High Court has overturned a decision of the Information Commissioner directing a health board to disclose edited records to a woman relating to her adoption more than 40 years ago."

Politics.co.uk - Wilson's spy fears revealed
"Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson was afraid that Soviet spies were following him even whilst on holiday in the Scilly Isles. Downing Street documents newly released under Freedom of Information Act show that upon his return to Westminster in 1974 Mr Wilson demanded to know about any activity from Soviet spy vessels."

Egov monitor - Scottish Public Still Unsure Over FOI Rights
"But public knowledge of the Act is growing, says Information Commissioner. Around three-quarters of the Scottish public are now possibly aware of the Freedom of Information Act but confusion remains as to their rights under the new law, it has emerged."

Bath Chronicle - It's still a bit like trying to get blood out of a stone (letter)
"You are rightly concerned about the cost to us council tax payers of the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. In the same spirit of openness as the act itself, I can give readers a bit of detail about the three inquiries that I have initiated, all of the property services section - and of the outcomes."

Evening Star (Suffolk) - Technicality sets drink drivers free
"FOUR per cent of drink drivers caught over the legal limit in Suffolk this year have not been prosecuted, because of a technicality. Figures obtained by The Evening Star under the Freedom of Information Act, show over the past four years, 79 motorists arrested for drink driving have escaped punishment."

Scotsman - Documents show blood product risk was kept from haemophiliacs
" Frontline Scotland will also reveal that reports from the 1980s released under the Freedom of Information Act that found lower-than-expected standards in Scottish blood processing facilities. Since the 1970s haemophiliacs have been given a blood product, Factor VIII, to stop clotting. But as it was manufactured from thousands of donors, it carried a greater risk of infection."

Cambridge Evening News - Study called for on congestion charge
"The News put in a request to the council under the new Freedom of Information Act for the traffic forecast for Cambridge. t responded by saying its target was to have 170,000 vehicles going in and out of the city every day in 2011 - almost exactly the same figure as now."

No comments: