Media update

National News

The Guardian -MPs link with human rights groups to get facts on rendition
"They are planning to use American laws, including the US freedom of information act, to get Washington to reveal how many CIA flights carrying detainees landed in Britain."

Specialist Press
Computer Weekly- Lords back CW on ID card secrecy
"Repeated refusals by the government to publish the results of Gateway reviews into the ID cards scheme were criticised during a parliamentary debate last week. The Earl of Northesk, a Conservative peer, referred in the debate on ID cards to Computer Weekly's efforts to persuade officials to publish Gateway reviews."

Regional news

Watford Observer - Great demand for Freedom of Information
"ALMOST 400 submissions were made to Hertfordshire Constabulary last year under the new Freedom of Information Act (FOI).Of these, 95 per cent were dealt with within the 20-working day target."

Birmingham Post - Incinerator proposal attacked
"Keith Kondakor, of Nuneaton Friends of the Earth, only discovered the plans when he put in a request under the Freedom of Information Act."

The Argus (Sussex)- Crimewave in hospitals
"Police were called out 2,300 times in one year to deal with crime in Sussex hospitals. Firearms incidents, sexual offences, violence, robbery and drug crimes are detailed in figures obtained by The Argus under the Freedom Of Information Act."

Truro packet -£10,000 paid by mistake?
"Cornwall county councillors, who are paid 50p a mile for driving their own cars to meetings, may be overclaiming thousands of pounds a year more than they are entitled to, a Packet investigation has revealed. Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Packet has acquired copies of expenses claim forms submitted by the 82 county councillors over a three-month period last year and these have been analysed by comparing them to AA and RAC mileage data."

Nottingham Evening Post - Whitehall fears as women pickets were dragged away to the cells
"Today the Evening Post starts a four-day series of previously untold stories from the 1984-85 miners' strike. Using the Freedom of Information Act, we have secured Government documents which tell harrowing accounts of what happened during the strike - and how it was viewed by the country's top politicians."