CIPFA Better Governance Forum

When FOI Met PSI: Opportunities and Challenges

Two special interactive workshops to understand the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 (PSI) which came into force on 1st July 2005. Afternoon sessions will look at what has happened with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004, and a review of key ICO decisions so far.
13th September 2005 London & 15th September 2005 Leeds

www.ipf.co.uk/governance/events

Have you made a Freedom of Information request to the police?

A journalism lecturer would like to hear from reporters in the regional press who have made Freedom of Information requests to police.

More details: holdthefrontpage

US FOIA: Attorney General to review government FOIA policy

"WASHINGTON Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is taking another look at how the government gives out information.

Responding to an Associated Press request, Gonzales says he'll review the federal policy on the Freedom of Information Act. The policy determines which documents and information the public can get. Under former President Bill Clinton, agencies erred on the side of giving people the information they wanted.

But John Ashcroft changed that. Shortly after Nine-Eleven, Ashcroft told government workers to err on the side of withholding information.

Gonzales took over from Ashcroft in February. Today he said he'd take a closer look at the policy and is always willing to look at questions about releasing documents."

from WAVY.com

Ombudsmen make open goverment laws work

Article by Al Roberts in Daily Herald (Utah, US)
"These watchdogs perform four critical functions. First, they provide an inexpensive way of obtaining justice when agencies ignore a FOIA request or refuse information. You don't need a lawyer or deep pockets to make an appeal to Canada's Information Commissioner. His staff successfully mediates almost all disputes in a few months, at no charge for the complainant. (Other ombudsmen charge modest appeal fees.) In the United States, you can ask an agency to reconsider its decision -- but it's unlikely to change its mind. Then it's time for a costly and complicated trip to federal court."

FOI: How are we doing?

FOI: How are we doing?
Implications for e-information and the information professional

Wednesday, 23rd November, 2005, 9.45 - 16.30

The John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester

Topics to be covered include:

* Summary of progress to date
* Examples of best practice
* E-information practice - using disclosure logs
* E-information opportunities - using FOI as a research tool
* The role of the information professional - a lost opportunity?
* Looking ahead - new initiatives for the future

Course Presenters

Steve Wood is a Senior lecturer in Information Management at Liverpool John Moores University. He lectures and researches on FOI and e-business areas. He is editor of the popular website Freedom of Information Act Blog and founding editor of "Open Government: a journal on freedom of information". Other speakers include Tim Turner, FOI Officer, Wigan Council and Guy Daines, Policy Advisor at CILIP.

See more and booking at: UKeIG

Media roundup

Press Gazette - reporters unlock the secrets of FoI
"The Freedom of Information Act is proving a useful tool for newspapers seeking to hold their democratic representatives to account, Paul Francis discovers."


Personnel today - Staff shortages meant women allowed to serve at sea
"The Royal Navy was forced to allow women to serve at sea because of a drop in recruitment, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI)."

Mirror -CRACK CRIMES RISE BY 300%
"THE number of crack cocaine addicts involved in crime has risen more than 300 per cent. Almost 80,000 people admitted to being hooked on the drug last year, compared to 63,000 in 2003. Of those, 2,260 are known to be offenders - a 326 per cent increase on the 1997 figure of 530. "

Media roundup

Guardian - Falconer is forced to reveal diary in freedom milestone
"Lord Falconer, the secretary of state for constitutional affairs, has been forced to reveal details of his ministerial diary in an important victory for the Freedom of Information Act."

Observer- Free to find out all you want?
"Jon Robins on how the Freedom of Information Act can be used to find out everything from MRSA levels in your hospital to planned air traffic over your home."

New Scientist - Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed
"Little information about its effects has been released, but details of tests in 2003 and 2004 were revealed after Edward Hammond, director of the US Sunshine Project - an organisation campaigning against the use of biological and non-lethal weapons - requested them under the Freedom of Information Act."

Cumberland News - £65m paid to farmers
"The Government’s Rural Payments Agency has just revealed details of payments under the Common Agricultural Policy, in response to a request by The Cumberland News under the new Freedom of Information Act."

South Wales Evening Post - Shock of councils' electricity spend
"Shock new figures obtained by the Post have revealed the scale of the electricity bills our councils are running up. The figures have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."

Eastern Daily Press - Norwich denied food safety information
"The public is being denied basic information about food hygiene and safety in Norwich's hundreds of cafés, restaurants and takeaways. A veil of secrecy still hangs over Norwich City Council's food inspection reports after it refused to release details of those premises which present the greatest threat to customers' health."

South Wales Evening Post - Dylan Thomas data is blocked
"Education bosses in Swansea have blocked an attempt to try to get key information into the closure of Dylan Thomas School made public, it was revealed today. Chairman of the school's governing committee Dereck Roberts had lodged a Freedom of Information request with Swansea Council."

US FOIA
Newsday- Critics: Terror fears prompting government secrecy
"Environmental and government watchdog groups said Friday that proposed changes to a law that allows public access to government records go overboard in hiding information in the name of homeland security."

Lord Falconer’s diary

From DCA disclosure log:

Date released: 22 July 2005

Information released:
This document contains details of the appointments recorded in the diary of the secretary of state for Constitutional Affairs for the period week commencing 9 June 2003 to week commencing 31 January 2005.

Lord Falconer’s diary [PDF 88 kb, 11 pages]

HM Treasury disclosure

Title: Costings of policies of opposition parties
Date: 13 July 2005

Request: Costings of policies of opposition parties held by HM Treasury in July 2002. Costings of policies of opposition parties held by HM Treasury in the period June 2004-June 2005

See disclosure log

Police records

The following may be of interest to those working in the Police sector:

Borglund, E. (2005) "Operational use of electronic records in police work" Information Research, 10(4), paper 236

Media roundup

Press gazette - Nazi freedom of information victory for People reporter
"The Government has been rapped by Information Commissioner Richard Thomas over the way it dealt with a request from the People newspaper for details of Nazi war criminals."

Guardian - The vigilant society
"Thus the facts that we publish today - unearthed with the help of the Freedom of Information Act - on the vetting of applications from foreign students applying to certain postgraduate courses in British universities will prompt concern across the campuses of the UK."
Also - Foreign scientists barred amid terror fears

The Herald - Laughs are thin on the ground for Brown
"Files from Edinburgh University show the chancellor fought doggedly with the institution's authorities for three years after being elected rector in 1972.
.....The release of the documents to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act comes as Mr Brown is trying to shake off his rather dour public image."

BBC - Farmers' subsidy 'secrecy' anger
"A Labour MP says he is "baffled" by a refusal to publish details of subsidies paid to Welsh farmers, when similar details are released in England."

E-gov monitor - Isle of Wight leads the way in freedom of information
"The average time to deal with all calls has been eight working days, with 97 percent of all calls being responded to within the official 20 working day limit. In those cases that took longer to resolve, the customer was informed of the reason for the delay and kept up to date on progress."

Transparency vs data protection?

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) presents guidelines for good practice as to both rights:

-Guidelines (PDF)

-Statewatch press release(PDF)

Media roundup

Ipswich Evening Star - Hospital forced to close 20 times
"Figures published under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the hospital was operating on what it calls 'blue lights only' status on 24 occasions – with some of these periods lasting more than 24 hours."


South London Press - What happened to freedom requests
"A town hall is accused of stalling over Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. But Southwark council has hit back at claims it is flouting rules of the new act - in force since January. Opposition members accuse South-wark's FOI office of failing to respond promptly to genuine requests."

Norfolk Now - police 'away days' cost £93,000
"Norfolk police spent £93,000 on hiring premises for conferences and other events in the last year, despite moving into new headquarters less than four years ago. Much of this was spent on 'away days' and training sessions, often at hotels a few miles from the force's £52.3m Operations and Commun-ications Centre at Wymondham. The revelations, under the Freedom of Information Act, come two months after the EDP revealed that last summer's Police Gala Day had not raised any money for local charities and ended up costing the force £11,000."

Guardian - NHS continues open source software trials
"A response made yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act by Connecting for Health, the Department of Health agency which manages the £6.2bn national programme for IT, said that none of its prime contractors were providing solutions based on Linux, the open source operating system which competes with Microsoft Windows. However, the statement said that this was "likely to change in due course," and that some NHS organisations already use Linux with software provided by Oracle."

Cumbria online- WINTER’S STORMS ARE STILL TAKING BIG FINANCIAL TOLL
"freak storms – and the bill is still rising. The Whitehaven News can today reveal the costs incurred by council departments after the ferocious storms which battered the borough.We have used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a detailed breakdown of the authority’s expenditure."

Information act 'working well' in Ulster

From the Belfast Telegraph:
"Assistant Information Commissioner Marie Anderson gave the upbeat assessment while reviewing the first six months since the new legislation took effect.Ms Anderson is in charge of the Ulster wing of the UK-wide Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which adjudicates on complaints about public organisations turning down disclosure requests.There are 35 adjudications pending on such cases here, which works out as 3.2% of the UK's total."

Information Commissioner: Annual Report

The IC annual report "Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 52(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 and Section 49(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Schedules 5 paragraph 10(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998."

Now available:

-Press release

-Full annual report

-Leaflet : Public authorities given top ten tips to tackle Freedom of Information

E-mails between councils on FOI requests

From the BBC website: "BBC News in Norwich applied under the FOIA 2000 to South Norfolk Council in an attempt to shed light on the way councils are dealing with requests. The BBC asked for e-mails between it and other councils on FOI requests. But the council refused, saying it would damage free and frank discussions between council officers."

This is an interesting area the BBC have picked up on, there is a fine line between certain public authorities working together and agreeing that certain classes of information are exempt or pre judging requests against relevant debate and discussion that takes place to develop good practice and general discussion of FOI. It is important that each authority deals with each request as a standalone case - looking at the content and nature of the information request. Whilst decisions of other authorities and case law may have some background influence. The decision must be made by the authority and they must be responsible for it.

In the example of this request for the emails between FOI officers I can see the case that some emails would be exempt to allow frank discussion - on the other hand there may be emails that can be disclosed and I wouldn't like to see a block exemption of all emails. The content of the emails should be examined (within cost limits).

It would be worth thinking about whether requesters are named in these types of "cross authority" emails - certainly could be regarded as a DP breach.

I know this will be controversial topic! and would be interested to hear views of users and FOI officers, you can post below (anonymously if you like)

EU policy “putsch”: Data protection handed to the DG for “law, order and security

From Statewatch website:

"In a little reported decision the full European Commission meeting on 11 February 2005 the policy brief for data protection in the EU was transferred from the Directorate-General on the Internal Market to the Directorate-General on "Freedom, justice and security". There was no public debate and no consultation with national or European parliaments."

Information Commissioner's annual report

The IC's annual report "Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 52(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 and Section 49(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Schedules 5 paragraph 10(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998." will be published tomorrow. It will contain detail on FOI progress so far and recommedations for public authorities.

See previous reports

Details when I get them will be posted here

Briefing from the Prime Minister's Spokesman on: FOI Timing

From No.10 website:
"Asked if the Government was still happy that the drugs report that was released at 1745 on Friday was released in "the right way", the (PMS) said that the reports released were Freedom of Information announcements, and not news announcements. They were responses to individual requests which were then made available to everyone afterwards.

Asked if the Government was winning the war on drugs, the PMS explained some parts of the reports that were released on Friday were complied some time ago. The PMS said the Government continued to deal with the fight against the drug problem and had implemented a range of new measures to tackle the problems."

Media roundup


Politics.co.uk - ORR gets tough with Network Rail on network capability
"RFG has also sought under the Freedom of Information Act details of the capability of the network in April 2001 for which NR is funded to maintain and is promised this information from NR by the end of July 2005 since, perhaps surprisingly, the ORR does not have this information."

Western Mail - Hain wind farm letter kept secret
"CAMPAIGNERS against a planned offshore wind farm say they are appalled that a letter written about the matter by Peter Hain to Rhodri Morgan is being kept secret."

Bundesrat gives green light to Federal Freedom of Information Act

"Germany is to receive a Freedom of Information Act: The Bundesrat, the upper chamber of Germany's federal parliament in its Friday meeting decided not to place the odd stumbling block in the path of the prestige project of the still ruling coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Green Party which had only narrowly been approved by the Bundestag, the federal parliament's lower chamber, ahead of the pre-arranged vote of confidence in the Chancellor designed to pave the way for a general election."

Read more at Heise online

Freedom of Information Seminar

The technological implications of Freedom of Information - response and development

Friday 9 September
The Gateway, University of St Andrews

The weight of legislation governing how institutions manage the information they hold is growing fast. In particular, recent Freedom of Information legislation imposes obligations on universities and colleges to be able to identify, locate, retrieve and supply information to enquirers within a very short time-frame. This conference will examine to what extent technology can supply answers.

Who should attend:

* Anyone responsible for managing Administrative or Management Information Systems
* Anyone responsible for compliance with Freedom of Information legislation

More details

New disclosure log

New log has been added to the index for Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health authority

New Disclosure log

New log added to the index for Bath and North East Somerset Council

This log is one of the most comprehensive so far and includes subject categorisation.

Irish decision notices

The following decision notices have been added to the Irish IC website:

Case 040302 - Ms. Margaret Urwin, Secretary, Justice for the Forgotten and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
"Request for access to certificates of withholding in relation to records which contain references to the Dublin bombings of November and December 1982 and January 1973 - whether release is prohibited by section 8(4) of the National Archives Act - section 32"

Case 040020 - Mr X and the Department of Health and Children
"Request to the Department of Health and Children (the Department) - request not made in writing - whether a valid request had been made - section 7(1) - whether Department's decision capable of review by the Commissioner - section 34(2) - discontinuation of Commissioner's review - section 34(9)"

Case 010072 - Mr X and the Children's University Hospital, Temple St.
"Request for statistics concerning specific activity within St Clare's Unit of the Hospital (the Unit) between 1987 to 1999 inclusive - whether records specifically containing the requested information exist - whether records specifically containing the requested data must be compiled, in the event that the requested information is contained in a variety of records - section 10(1)(a) - in the event that such records must be compiled, is it reasonable to direct the Hospital to do so - section 10(1)(c)."

Case 010321 - Mr. & Mrs. A and the X Health Board
"Records relating to name of person who reported child abuse concerns to the Board - information given in confidence - section 23(1)(b)."

Malta - Ombudsman calls for Freedom of Information Act

Malta Independent online
"Ombudsman Joe Sammut has called for the introduction of a Freedom of Information Act which would make government more accountable to its citizens. He said this should feature high on the agenda of the incoming Ombudsman as well as that of the government."

Event: Freedom of Information Symposium

Association of London Government

A free event for borough leaders, chief executives and Freedom of Information officers. This symposium will help the ALG and the boroughs develop a protocol to allow for a more coordinated approach to FOI issues.

Date: Tuesday 19 July, 2005, 9.45am – 12.45pm
Venue: ALG Offices, 59½ Southwark Street, SE1 0AL

Guest speakers:
Ibrahim Hasan, Leading information law expert
David Hencke, Investigative journalist, The Guardian
Plus representatives from two London boroughs


Full details

Media update

Norwich Evening News - City's secret chemical tests unearthed
"Further details of secret germ warfare tests carried out on Norwich families in 1964 were today unearthed by the Evening News.And we can reveal exactly where the top secret experiments were carried out around the city. The Porton Down experiments - which first came to light five years ago - involved the dropping of chemical clouds onto Norwich from light aircraft on four separate occasions 41 years ago....Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson, who lobbied on behalf of worried families back in 2000, said: “Even though these experiments were carried out a long time ago, there is still a deep mystery surrounding them. “Whether under the new powers of the Freedom of Information Act we can make sure more information is divulged is questionable."

Daily Record -IF YOU DON'T ASK, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW
"SHE had to beat off fierce competition from more than 500 other submissions, but 16-year-old Siobhan Mills from Dundee scooped the top prize - a top-of-the-range iPod - in the Freedom of Information competition featured in January's Young Scot magazine. Following the new Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, which came into force on January 1, 2005, Young Scot and the Scottish Information Commissioner teamed up to find out more about the questions that young people might put to Scotland's public authorities using the new legislation."

Jersey Evening Post - Freedom of information debate gets under way
"A landmark debate on introducing a freedom of information law began in the States this morning and was expected to last most of the day."

US FOIA

Washington Post - Openness Law May Get Muscle
"Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) are pushing a package of legislative proposals that would create, for the first time, penalties for agencies that ignore Freedom of Information Act requests. They also want to create a position for an independent arbiter -- an ombudsman for FOIA -- who would help referee conflicts between the public and the government while requiring departments to provide more information on how quickly they process requests."

Also see my previous post on the Cornyn Bill

Right to Information Bill - India

Kalam clears information bill - Indian Express

Information Bill: Centre rejects Kalam's suggestions - NDTV

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
From 24-26 May 2005, CHRI organised a national workshop " Effective Implementation: Preparing to Operationalise the Right to Information Act 2005" in New Delhi. The Conference brought together senior government officials from the Centre and States, with key representatives from civil society and international experts from the UK, Jamaica, Canada, South Africa and Mexico to discuss key implementation issues and challenges regarding the new Right to Information Act 2005.

The Conference Report is a summary of the key points and discussions that took place at the Conference.
Also see articles from the Conference.

Canada FOI

"Cheating on the exam" - Toronto Star, June 22, 2005
By Al Roberts

"Information Commissioner John Reid's annual report on the Access to Information Act, released earlier this month, provides a thorough indictment of the "culture of secrecy" within the federal government. But there was one bright spot, Reid said: Overall, problems of delay in processing information requests were clearing up.

Unfortunately, the delay statistics are misleading. In large part, departments have simply learned how to use the law to create the impression that delays have been eliminated."

Read full article

FOI - Ireland

From the Irish IC website:

In accordance with Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997 as
amended by the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act, 2003, the Information Commissioner has today published a revised version of her Office's Section 16 Manual.

Section 16 provides for the publication of a Guide to the Rules, Procedures, Practices, Guidelines and Interpretations used by the Office of the Information Commissioner for the purposes of Decisions, Determinations or Recommendations under the Freedom of Information Acts, 1997 and 2003.


The update can be viewed on the OIC Website's "What's New" page at
http://www.irlgov.ie/oic/new.htm

Further decision notices

It appears that in response to feedback the IC Office have now added full text of decision notices

New cases also added:

-National Maritime Museum
-The Pensions Ombudsman
-The London Borough of Harrow
-The Cabinet Office
-Department for Work and Pensions

Media Roundup

Heather Brooke has covered some FOI stories while I've been off - see Your Right to Know

Some key stories:

Guardian 4th July - Revealed: how drugs war failed
"The profit margins for major traffickers of heroin into Britain are so high they outstrip luxury goods companies such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, according to a study that Downing Street is refusing to publish under freedom of information legislation."

Guardian 4th July - Ministers 'used Live 8 to bury' critical report
"The documents were released after requests under the Freedom of Information Act, but the timing of their publication - at 5pm on Friday, hours before the Live 8 concerts - prompted accusations of spin."


Birmingham Evening Mail 29th June - West Midlands Police carried out half of all 'stop and searches'
"Nearly half of all people in Britain quizzed by police under controversial stop and search rules were in the West Midlands. A total of 20,000 out of 40,000 people questioned as part of the unpopular legislation were stopped by West Midlands Police. The figures for Section 60 searches, which allow officers to stop people 'without reasonable suspicion', were released under the Freedom of Information Act."

FT.com - UK failed to tackle Nigeria bribes claim
"The Export Credits Guarantee Department did little more than ask Halliburton – one of four companies accused of paying $172m (€142m, £94m) in bribes – whether the allegations were true, according to the papers obtained under the Freedom of Information act."

Carlisle News and Star - Reveal full report on Thorp spill demands Greenpeace
"GREENPEACE campaigners are calling for a full disclosure of the investigation report into last year’s nuclear leak at Sellafield’s Thorp plant. BNFL has published the 34-page report into how 83 cubic metres of highly-radioactive acid liquid leaked and lay undetected for months – but parts of the report, including the identity of the inquiry panel, are blacked out on the company’s web site. Greenpeace has now issued a Freedom of Information request for the full disclosure of the reports."

BBC news -Work dispute change for draft law
"People in Jersey may not be able to get information on employment disputes if the States agrees changes to the planned Freedom of Information law. "

Guardian - Whitehall finding it hard to give up secrets
"Ministers and Whitehall mandarins are failing to open up the government and release information promptly to the public as promised, according to an official report published yesterday."

Act Now newsletter

The July 2005 issue of the Act Now newsletter, going to 3,514 subscribers, is now available for viewing or download from

http://www.actnow.org.uk/currentnl.pdf

Stories include

First Decisions by ICO and SIC
Durant Case goes to the Lords
FOI & Confidentiality
FOI In Schools

Scottish Information Commissioner

Decisions issued by the Scottish Information Commissioner have been updated, with the case: Mr S and the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

The SIC has also added new briefings on:

-Section 31: National Security and Defence
-Section 33: Commercial interests and the economy
-Section 39: Health, Safety and the Environment
-The Public Interest Test

FOI stats

From the DCA website: "Freedom of Information statistics are now available. They provide information across central government on performance under the new Freedom of Information Act. A full annual report will be provided in early 2006."

Re Use of Public Sector Information Regulations

These come into force on 1st July 2005. Act Now is running a half day workshop designed to brief you on the new law and implications for the public sector. This is in London on July 1st. The afternoon course is full but it is also being offered in the morning (9.15 am to 12.15pm). There are places for the morning briefing.

Full details www.actnow.org.uk where you will also find a revised briefing note on this topic. Ring 01924 451054 to book a place