UK Government boost to availabilty of Government data

Douglas Alexander, Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, today announced the appointment of Professor Richard Susskind as the first Chair of the Advisory Panel on Crown Copyright.

The Panel is a new non-departmental public body recommended by the Cross-Cutting Review of the Knowledge Economy

Cabinet Office Press release

HMSO Advisory Panel pages

New Irish Ombudsman

The Irish Governemnt has confirmed that the political journalist,
Emily O'Reilly, will be the next Ombudsman and Information Commissioner. ...

Source: RTE

Freedom of Information briefing day Scotland
14 May 2003, Perth College

Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2002 in Scotland is approaching. A new post has been created, the Information Commissioner for Scotland, and Kevin Dunion formerly Director of Friends of the Earth (Scotland) has been appointed and has just taken up his post.

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act will give a general right of public access to all types of 'recorded' information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that general right, and places a number of obligations on public authorities. 'Public authorities' include Colleges and Universities. In some areas the Act is tougher than the Westminster equivalent, in particular that the Public Interest must be taken into account unless there is 'substantial prejudice' to the authority.


FE/HE institutions will have to:


- deal with requests under the Act,
- create a Publication Scheme and
- review their Records Management.

The timetable is likely to be tight, full compliance by 2005.

This briefing day will help you prepare for the changes necessary to ensure compliance with the new legislation.

For further details please email jlis@strath.ac.uk

NHS FOI Events

A series of events run by Public Partners during April, May and June

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Access to Information 2003

The Constitution Unit and Capita present Access to Information 2003. This conference will be held in the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Central London on Wednesday 14 May 2003. It is aimed at public sector officials who are preparing for 2005, when access rights under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 come into force, or who are responsible for preparing a publication scheme.

Foi Training

FOI Update, 19th June, Birmingham, Speakers Paul Simpkins, Ibrahim Hasan, Paul Couldrey


More details from Act Now Training
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Irish Civil Liberties Council condemns the ammendments to the Irish FOIA

"The Irish Council for Civil Liberties is appalled this morning to learn of the extent of the amendments to the Freedom of Information Act proposed by the Government. The proposals, would not only introduce a fee for requests on top of the already permitted charges for the cost of replying to a request, but will extend the grounds for refusing requests and time limit for which cabinet papers can be held"

Changes to the Freedom of Information Act in Ireland
An ammending Bill to the Irish FOIA was published on the 28th February

Monday, February 03, 2003
Posted 9:03 AM by steve
Welcome to the UK FOIA blog - this blog aims to a regularly updated resources and source of views and opinions on the UK Freedom of Information Act and other FOIA worldwide. The blog will cover issues in the runup to full implementation to 2005 and then from 2005, information requests and the full operation of the Act. The blog will also cover any issues relating to the current UK Code of Practice on Access to Government Information