Media update

The Times - We're paying for our art – but the price is a secret
"But no one is entitled to know how much Shawcross was paid for the temporary installation, even though the museum receives £15 million of taxpayers’ money each year. The trustees have twice turned down a request under the Freedom of Information Act to reveal the cost of housing the artwork. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner and guardian of the new Act, also refused to publish the figure. It appears that the fee earned by Mr Shawcross, 28, son of the authors William Shawcross and Marina Warner, is secret....The case will go before the Information Tribunal on December 16."

Butler Group blog - Free Information
"The Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo), which found that over 21,000 IT workers were given work permits allowing them to stay and work in the UK over the last 12 months. The statistics indicate that some 85% of these workers came from India, and also that in recent years the numbers of IT work permits being granted has sharply risen...ATSCo applied for the data underpinning the above findings through use of the Freedom of Information Act."

This is Money - Students struggle with £10,000 debt
"Emails released under the Freedom of Information Act show that UUK prevented the Higher Education Funding Council for England - a partner in commissioning the research - from publication earlier unless large sections were removed."

ICSolihull - Conviction rates 'vary by postcode'
"The Times reported rates of convictions for 12 categories of offences varied from a high of 92.9% in Warwickshire through to 76.6% in Bedfordshire. And, following a Freedom of Information Act request, the Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) figures for September 2004 to August 2005 showed convictions for types of offences in England and Wales varied even more widely."

Daily Record - ROAD TOLL PLAN IS £9M DEAD END
"FAILED plans to bring in road tolls for Edinburgh cost taxpayers £9million. Last night the bill, revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, was branded a "disgraceful" waste of public money."

The lawyer.com -What effect does the Freedom of Information Act have on the Land Registry?

Daily Mail - Minister accused over TB jab
"Papers released under the Freedom of Information Act show his company knew that nine batches of its TB vaccine failed quality control checks but no-one alerted regulators or the NHS for nearly two years."

Express and Star (Dudley) - Schoolgirl birth pill shock
"A total of 130 schoolgirls in part of Dudley borough were given emergency contraception in the last 12 months, health service figures have revealed. And more than 40 under 17-year-olds had abortions, according to the Beacon and Castle Primary Care Trust, which covers the north of the borough, in records published under the Freedom of Information Act."

The Times - Justice by postcode: the lottery revealed
"A detailed analysis of the work of Britain’s prosecutors shows stark differences in conviction rates around the country for offences ranging from dangerous driving to murder. Data obtained by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act established that..."