US FOI:Government secrecy costing taxpayers billions

Interesting case for FOI, arguing that secrecy costs:

Taken from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (registration required)
Government secrecy is on the rise and costing taxpayers billions each year, says a new report by a coalition of nonprofit groups.

"The federal government spent $6.5 billion last year keeping about 14 million new documents away from the public and securing previous secrets, says the study, released Thursday. By comparison, the government spent $5.6 billion on classifying documents in 2002, including about 11 million new documents, and $4.7 billion in 2001, including about 8 million new documents."

"Government secrecy is not only increasing, it's also making it harder for the public to get the information they need to make their families safe from an environmental hazard such as a toxic chemical that's in their drinking water system . . . or from a potential terrorist attack," according to Rick Blum, the coordinator of OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of over 30 nonprofit groups fighting what they call an increase in government secrecy. They include OMB Watch, a government watchdog; People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group; the Federation of American Scientists; and the American Library"

Also see the website Openthegoverment.org

Battle over Iraq advice to resume

Sunday August 29, 2004 The Observer

"Whitehall is bracing itself for a wave of requests for the disclosure of highly sensitive documents as new Freedom of Information legislation comes into force in January, according to information commissioner Richard Thomas, whose job it will be to adjudicate in disputed cases.

Top of the list will be the controversial legal advice from the Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, on British military intervention in Iraq. Requests for the disclosure of the full advice and changes that were made to it in the run-up to war will act as an early test of the new watchdog."

ASLIB NORTHERN GROUP FOI seminar

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Issues, Implications and Solutions Implications and Solutions

2:15pm 6th October 2004
At Liverpool John Moores University

Chair:

Steve Wood
Liverpool John Moores University

Speakers:

Mohamed Hans
CIPFA Procurement and Commissioning Forum

Tim Turner
Data Protection Officer Wigan Council

Heather Brooke
Author of Your Right to Know


Main Lecture Theatre G01
John Foster Building
Liverpool John Moores University
98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5UZ


How to book and more info: aslib.doc

Recordkeeping magazine

Recordkeeping is a regular publication from The National Archives aimed at Archivists, Records Managers, and all those who care for archives and records.

The magazine is published quarterly and will contain news from The National Archives and examples of best practice and case studies in archives and records management

Recordkeeping, Summer 2004 issue (PDF)

Fees story

The Code request I've made has generated quite a few comments via email, many of the them of critical of the DCA's redaction and use of exemptions. I'm currently considering whether to appeal the exemptions via internal review, the next stage would be to complain via my MP to the Ombudsman. Keep your comments coming - feel free to post them on the blog

Blog ehancements

You can now email links postings to people by clicking on the mail symbol on each posting and the blog also now has a comment feature - please make use of it, I'll trial it for the next month and see what value it offers

Steve

Practical FOI Training Seminar

LGA HQ, Smith Square, London - 29th September- £195 + VAT - Green Sheet magazine with the support of the LGA, BSI and Aiim

www.green-sheet.net/seminars.htm

More FOI books

Some more books in the pipline:

Information Audit And Information Asset Register - A Practitioner's Guide for the Freedom of Information ACT Chris Higson, Sebastian Nokes Sept 2004


Freedom of Information: Working Towards Compliance
Liz TaylorSept 2004

The Times (t2 section)- Everything you want to know

"This suggests that the increased access to information that will be provided once the Freedom of Information Act comes fully into force at the beginning of next year will be subject to so many qualifications, and possibly subject to such high charges, that its value to the public is highly questionable."
Times, T2, p23, 24 August (thanks to Jim for the URL)

The Times - "Complaint frees court information"

The Times - 23rd August

"THE public’s right to access information held by the Scottish Executive was highlighted by the Scottish Information Commissioner yesterday.

Kevin Dunion said that he wanted to raise public awareness of appeal procedures after the successful conclusion of the first ever formal complaint made under the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information.

The case, the first to be considered by the commissioner, involved a newspaper’s attempts to access information held by the Scottish Courts Service."

Datawatch FOI event

"Datawatch, Intelligent Output Solutions and Avanquest are hosing a highly topical seminar & forum on 22nd September at the Heathrow Regus Offices complex. This event, featuring guest speakers from KPMG, has been formulated to address the immediate problems of how Public Sector organisations deliver a cohesive and mature response to the demands of the Freedom of Information Act and the issues surrounding other compliance regulations.

The panel of expert speakers at the event will include Stephen Perry, Senior Manager, IT Risk and Advisory at KPMG and Stewart Rogers, Director of Intelligent Output Solutions. Taylor Wessing, CIPFA and Datawatch International will also be represented.

For registration or more details on the event call Lindsey Glennie on 01923 437676 or email lindsey_glennie@datawatch.com"

Fees story featured in the Guardian

My fees story is featured in the Guardian today (p5 paper edition)

Also see the web version

Thanks to David Hencke for the credit!

Lighting up corridors of power

By Raymond Buchanan
BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Live

"A little more freedom is coming our way soon. Government is opening up and allowing some light into the corridors of power.....But the law does not come into force until next year and one lawyer is questioning the executive's amending of documents before the new act is in place.

Cameron Fyfe represents hundreds of child abuse victims who attended schools run by the De La Salle monks from the 1950s.

Some are suing their alleged abusers and believe that vital information for their cases is contained within official reports.

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Live programme: "The executive has hinted that they are deleting information from the files.

"At the moment we are seeking an order from the court to instruct the executive to produce this information. At the moment the executive are imprisoning information."

The executive admits that it is reviewing thousands of files, but insists that it is doing so to protect personal information."

FOI fees

Under the Code of Practice on Access to Information (the current non statutory FOI provision for Central Government and related bodies) I have requested the minutes of meetings held at the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) that discussed fees for Freedom of Information Act requests. I did this order to further understand how the fees issue was developing in light of the draft version currently available and the subsequent changes that were trailed in the Guardian, back in May that if implemented would dramatically increase the cost burden on FOI requesters.

I received the documents yesterday, they have been redacted in parts. They are available to download (PDF format)
dcafees.pdf
(Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland)

Some interesting issues to note from the minutes:

-The discussions definitely indicate that the fees system will be markedly different to the current draft on the DCA website
-The DCA state all money collected will go to HM Treasury
-Charging fees will be discretionary
-Issues relating to different charges for overseas requesters were discussed
-Costs resulting from poor records management should not be passed on to the requester
-Charging VAT was raised as an issue
-Consideration of exemptions was not considered to be chargeable
-No decision was reached on charging for redaction or charging for finding information
-Five options were discussed - full costs, % of final costs, an agreed hourly rate, flexible hourly rate and a flat rate of £25

It is important to note that these are notes from meetings discussing fees- not the final fees regulations, the DCA have stated they should be published in October

some further background:

Documents relating to the fees story in May:

M.Frankel_Fees_comments.doc
Wkg Group Recs - Treasury comments.doc
Working Group recs - ICO comments.doc

Campaign for FOI page on fees

Hansard from House of Commons debate on fees

Seminar on Freedom of Information and Historians

3 November 2004
Chancellor's Hall, Senate House, University of London, Malet Street

The Freedom of Information Act comes into force on 1 January 2005. This seminar will give historians an opportunity to learn more about the Freedom of Information Act and its potential impact on their work. It will enable long term research trends to be identified and this will help inform decisions about reviewing records for potential release. It will offer the opportunity for historians to express their views about the process whereby records are released and provide them with the latest thinking within government departments.

The seminar is free and numbers are limited so please book as soon as possible. Please indicate which of the afternoon sessions you would like to attend. Please respond directly to Dr Stephen Twigge, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, stephen.twigge@nationalarchives.gov.uk .

Awareness Guidance 13 - Relations within the UK

Now available on the IC website

New Book on FOI

A new FOI book, from the user perspective will be published in November:

Your Right to Know: How to Use the Freedom of Information Act and Other Access Laws
by Heather Brooke, published by Pluto Press

Pre order from Amazon at only £9.09!

I'm looking forward to it, Heather has extensively researched the topic and the book will plug a gap in this area, I'll review on the blog as soon as it becomes available.

Scottish Water

More on the Openess debate surrounding Scottish Water in the Scotsman newspaper

Guidance 10 and 12 available from the Information Commissioner

Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No 12: When is information caught by the Freedom of Information Act?

Some interesting aspects covered relating to email:

"Personal written communications (emails etc.) Even if the private use of emails in the workplace were monitored, the public authority would still not “hold” this information as it has no interest in it, unless disciplinary action were taken against a particular member(s) of staff. This is, however, an exception rather than the rule. Problems may arise, however, in terms of hybrid emails, which contain a mixture of personal content and that relating to the duties of the employee. The information which falls within the latter classification is potentially disclosable, and so as part of good email management the formulation of such emails should be avoided."

and Party Political communications:

"Party political communications A common example of party political communications would be emails between councillors which discuss party political matters. In this context the author will be communicating in their party political capacity and the emails would not relate to the functions of the public authority. These communications would therefore not be “held” for the purposes of FOI."


Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No 10: The Defence Exemption

The defence exemption will not just effect the MoD: "The exemption is not for “defence information” but for information whose disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice defence matters. In addition to information about weaponry, troop deployments etc which might be expected to be covered by the exemption, there may be other information, for instance information as to fuel supplies, whose disclosure might assist an enemy in some circumstances. By the same token, it should not be assumed that the information covered by the exemption will only be held by the MoD or the armed forces. For instance, there may be information held by fire authorities and others involved in emergency planning. During a recent fire fighters’ strike, troops were deployed to provide a basic fire service. Information about the deployment of those troops, including the numbers involved, may have been exempt under s.26 if to disclose it would have been to assist an enemy. It would have made no difference"

Two CIPFA events

CIPFA Better Governance forum – Information Governance Stream
DATA PROTECTION AFTER DURANT
Edinburgh – 6th September 2004
Download details (MS Word)
CIPFA1.doc


CIPFA BETTER GOVERNANCE FORUM WORKSHOPS
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Countdown to 1St January 2005
7th September 2004 – Edinburgh
Download details (MS Word)

CIPFA2.doc

SEMLAC Organise Training Days For Freedom of Information Act

The South East Museum, Library & Archive Council (SEMLAC) are organising two training days focusing on the Freedom of Information Act, which comes into force in January 2005.

The events aim to help museums, libraries and archives understand what the Act is about and find out what you or your organization should be thinking about to meet its requirements. The training days are taking place on Thursday 21st October (Reading) and Tuesday 26th October (Winchester).

The Act applies to all recorded information held (rather than simply owned) by "public authorities". Public authorities are, broadly speaking, public bodies which exercise public functions.

If you would like more information, please contact Caroline Eade on 01962 858834 or email carolinee@semlac.org.uk by Friday 10 September

Taken from Managing Information

Staffordshire goes for electronic document mgt for 225 million bits of paper

Taken from Public Technology.net:

"Staffordshire County Councilwill be revising its social care operations with the introduction of new electronic documents and records management (EDRM) software.....The new EDRM system, to be supplier by TOWER Software will address risks associated with the accuracy of such data entry. With an estimated 225 million pieces of paper across the council’s Social Care and Health Directorate, it also anticipates cost savings and efficiencies by reducing the overwhelming volume of paper being used, storage capacity required."

Ark Group’s ‘FOI D-Day’ conference

I will be chairing this conference in October, hope to see some of you there:

More info at: ARk-Group website

Speakers day one

Speakers day two

With only two months to go, Ark Group’s ‘FOI D-Day’ conference is the most important event leading up to January 2005. It features all the key players, including a keynote address from Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, and includes speakers from a range of public sector organisations. It is aimed at all public authorities, including central and local government, health, police, education and all other public bodies. But most importantly, it addresses the biggest challenges with FOI and clarifies the areas you are struggling to get to grips with whilst providing numerous opportunities to actually practice handling all types of FOI requests.

Interactive break out sessions will allow delegates to run through:

How to interpret exemptions and when to apply the public interest test
How to apply the FOI Act to information about procurement and contracts
How to handle environmental information requests
How to handle FOI requests from journalists
How to effectively manage your records
How to create awareness and effectively train your staff
In addition, the following topics will also provide you with guidance on areas that have yet to be fully addressed:
The new environmental information regulations
FOI Fees Regulations
Information requests consisting of personal data
The copying of copyright documents in complying with information requests
What to expect from the press and how to cope

Openness report 'not published'

BBC website:

"An unpublished report into openness at Scottish Water has left one of its authors and politicians outraged. The report was ordered by watchdogs who keep the company in check. The Customer Consultation Panels admitted the document had not been published because it was out of date by the time it was filed.....The Scottish Conservative Party is to ask Kevin Dunion, the ombudsman who deals with information for public services, to investigate the matter. The report was ordered two years ago and four academics from three universities worked for the best of a year on the project. The researchers began their work by acting as members of the public, attempting to see what information was available in libraries and online."

This was also apparently featured on the Scottish version of the Newsnight TV programme

The full report is now available as download from the researcher's website at University of Strathcylde

Thanks to Tony for alerting me about this

E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN SEMINAR

- FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: THE 100-DAY COUNTDOWN.
- 21 September, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London

E-Government Bulletin's series of successful one-day seminars on key e-government topics continues with an unmissable run-through of what you need to know, and actions you need to be taking, in the last 100 days before full implementation of UK freedom of information law.

Speakers include Graham Smith, the UK's Deputy Information Commissioner; Jayne Boys, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Susan Healy, Head of Information Legislation, the National Archives; Kelly Mannix, records manager, Southwark Council; and Mike Cross of The Guardian.


Places cost 295 pounds plus VAT for public sector and 395 for private sector delegates. Additional delegates booking at the same time receive a 100 pound discount. For further information email Mel Poluck at mel@headstar.com .

Draft guidance on the Environmental Information Regulations

New Guidance posted at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/envinfo/index.htm

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Who is covered by the Regulations?

Chapter 3: What is covered by the Regulations?

Chapter 4: What do the Regulations require public and other authorities to do?

Chapter 5: Proactive dissemination

Irish FOI: "O’Reilly called in gardaí on FOI request"

Interesting case from Ireland in two respects: the powers used by the Ombudsman and the way an authority fell out of the scope of FOI.

"THE Ombudsman was forced to contact the gardaí after the former credit union watchdog ignored repeated requests to release a report under the Freedom of Information Act.......However, when the report was finally supplied, it could not be made public because new legislation ensured it was not covered by the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The record sought an interim draft report on Gurranabraher Credit Union in Cork City would have been covered by FOI if it had been released before May 1, 2003, 14 months after it was first requested by the Ombudsman."

Irish examiner (registration required)

MPs fret over expense claims release

The Guardian, p 7 08-05-2004
By Chief political correspondent Patrick Wintour

"MPs are anxiously awaiting the publication of their expenses claims for the past three years - with some comparing records among each other amid fears of exposure for excessive spending of taxpayers' money.

The individual claims will be released under the Freedom of Information Act. The act will apply to parliament from the start of next year, but the House of Commons commission is bringing forward publication to the autumn."

There is a FOI page for Parliament

New £9.5m EDRMS for DFID

"The Department for International Development (DFID) is to spend £9.5 million to develop and support a new document and records management system.

DFID is the department tasked with spearheading the UK Government’s effort to tackle world poverty. This new system will transform the way DFID employees manage information and share knowledge on a daily basis.

LogicaCMG has won the contract for the system, called Quest, which will deliver electronic document and records management (EDRM) and web content management to DFID’s 2,500 employees and will be rolled out across sites in 60 countries.

Quest will ensure that DFID is equipped to meet statutory requirements including compliance with the Data Protection Act, the Freedom of Information Act, reporting to the public on Public Sector Agreement targets, and meeting the wider demands of the Modernising Government Agenda."

Public Technology.net

US Justice Department: FOI figures highest ever

The US Justice Department has released the annual FOI audit for fiscal year 2003. Interesting to see a surge of requests this year and for the first time the volume has topped 3 million. It was also the largest year-on-year increase ever with FOIA requests going up 36% from 2002.

IMPLEMENTING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002 REGIONAL SEMINAR PROGRAMME

The Scottish Information Commissioner is organising a series of freedom of information seminars to be held over coming months. The aim of these free events is to provide staff within Scotland’s public authorities with information relating to the successful implementation of freedom of information, while also providing the opportunity for authorities to debate and discuss relevant issues.

Issues to be addressed include:

Overview of the Legislation
Key issues arising from development of the Codes of Practice
The Environmental Information Regulations and FOI
Fees Regulations
Interpreting the Act
The new regime - what to expect from 2005


Keynote speakers from the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, the Scottish Executive and the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland will cover these topics in detail, and respond to any associated questions.

Senior level staff from Scottish public authorities can register their interest in these events by logging on to www.itspublicknowledge.info/seminarform.htm

US FOIA: Judge Orders OSHA to Disclose Injury Rates

Guardian Tuesday August 3

Interesting to look at whether the HSA will release such information here in the UK, will post more on this later.

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The names of companies with the worst safety records must be disclosed by the government along with their injury rates, a federal judge has ruled.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a Labor Department agency, had denied a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2002 by The New York Times seeking a list of the 13,000 companies identified as having injury and illness rates greater than the national average."

FOI letter generator

An interesting tool available for Journalists in the US

http://www.rcfp.org/foi_letter/generate.php

Council staff are urged to bin 'secret' files

"staff are being urged to bin secret files about residents - on the eve of new rules making it easier for you to see them."

A rather one sided article, hard to comment on without seeing the full memo, depends whether this is about a "slash and burn policy" or a "planned records disposal"

Milton Keynes News (thanks to Heather for this)

Anyone else from a Council have any similar stories? Is there panic at the top about FOI?

FOI Journal


I am currently putting together plans for a Freedom of Information Journal. It is planned that LJMU will support the Journal and I will run it on an open access/web only model. It will have an ISSN. The Journal will aim for a mix of practioner, academic and research articles, book reviews about FOI, that will be reviewed by an editorial board. Taking an academic and non commercial model it is hoped that Journal will be read by practioners and users and will be seen as independent. Initially the scope may be mainly UK though any worldwide FOI contributions will be welcomed. It is hoped to publish quarterly though this may depend on contributions.

It is planned to launch the inaugural issue near as possible to the Jan 05 UK FOIA start date. The Journal would run alongside the FOI blog.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who would be interested in participating as a contributor or as part of the editorial board.

Steve