FOI Disclosure Stories 27 July - 2 August 2009

Half of UK architecture schools have no black teachers - Building Design 31/07/09
“Almost half of the architecture departments at UK universities do not have any black staff members, new research has revealed this week. An audit of 24 schools of architecture using the Freedom of Information Act has found 11 — including Oxford Brookes and the Bartlett — have no black teaching staff, raising concerns about a lack of role models for students starting out in a notoriously exclusive profession.”

UK arms officials defy EU military embargo on China - Ekklesia 31/07/09
“Officials from the UK Government's arms export agency, UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), have met with military representatives from China - despite the fact that the country is still subject to a European Union (EU) military embargo. The existence of such meetings was revealed after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) to UKTI DSO. The People's Republic of China was placed under an EU military embargo following the Tienanmen Square massacre of 4 June 1989, when over a thousand students and other civilians were killed by Chinese army units.”

£37m for police sickies - Daily Express 31/07/09
“Stressed out police officers took 225,000 days off sick last year leaving the taxpayer with a £37million bill. Every day 600 officers were missing from duty due to psychological problems including tension and depression. More than 40 police took the entire year off, according to Freedom of Information statistics.”

Landsbanki action is 'concerning' - BBC 29/07/09
“Guernsey investors have accused the Chief Minister of not doing enough to help them over the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki. Lyndon Trott met with depositors in October 2008 and pledged to help them. But a Freedom of Information Act request showed the State's treasury had held no meetings on the matter with the British Ministry of Justice… [The chairman of the Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG)] said: ‘We were told repeatedly that countless meetings had been taking place with the Treasury and the Ministry of Justice. The key issue is that the Ministry of Justice is responsible for representing Guernsey from an external threat and the Icelandic banking crisis is an external threat.’”

Scotland

Scot university bosses launch crackdown on yobs and cheats - Daily Record 28/07/09
“Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow universities have all seen increases in cheating and disciplinary problems, and the figures for Aberdeen and Edinburgh have more than doubled. At Edinburgh University, 261 students were disciplined last year - more than twice the total of 129 for 2006/7… Officials at Aberdeen University have also seen a large rise in cheating and other types of bad behaviour, with 118 cases in 2007/8 compared to 48 in 2006/7… At Glasgow University, 53 students were disciplined in 2007/8 for offences including downloading porn, disruptive behaviour and cheating.”