There will be no blog postings next week, will resume on 6th Sept

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority of FOI experience to date.

Item 11 is the report and Appendix A lists requests.

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

to be held at The John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester. Wednesday, 23 November 2005, 9.45 - 16.30

Course outline

The first 'FOI' year has seen the emergence of a series of new activities: new journals on freedom of information, records managers in high demand, courses on every aspect of FOI and tales of journalists aggressively testing the system to expose the cracks.

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 Presenter

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

To register your interest in this meeting, reserve a place, or request further details, please email meetings@ukeig.org.uk. Further details are also available via the UKeiG website at www.ukeig.org.uk.

FOI fees for commercial organisations

Question for debate? This story from the Guardian illustrates a growing frustration in parts of the NHS (and I suspect the wider public sector) over commercial uses of the FOIA.

Is this use of FoI valid? What can be done to take the strain off the public sector resulting from these requests? Is this practical or desirable? Is the commercial use and costs a negative byproduct set against the overall benefits FoI brings to Society as a whole? Is perhaps the situation in the UK similar to the US (where business use is heavy) as UK business practices are closer to those in the US, than other European or Commonwealth countries.

It also hard at present to work out a true pattern of use at present as the Act makes no provision for understanding categories of requestor (all applications are in essence are "blind") it is discretionary for the requestor to state that they work for an organisation. At present the DCA stats are not presenting estimates of categories of requestor. Although slightly ancedotal the the APR smartlogik research suggests high levels of business use (50%) in Central Government. In Ireland Business users run at 9%.

One option would be make different charges for commercial requests (this is the case in the US FOIA). However this could be got round to a certain extent by companies making requests as individuals. A flat fee might also deter (as in Ireland) but might create an overall deterrent effect.

The DCA are consulting on fees towards the end of the year and it will be important that people send in their views. The issue needs to be carefully assessed as any changes to the FOI charging regime may have negative effects.

Post your comments below

Media Roundup

Norwich Evening News- My granddad's death changed history
"Another thing I have found out is that the Nazis took photos of the plane crashing into the sea as if to prove everyone on it had been killed. I have been trying to uncover the secrets of what happened but it has been very difficult.All the official documents at the Ministry of Defence have been put into a folder which cannot be opened until 2056. Mr Sharp said: "I have put in a Freedom of Information request on the information but I was told it is too 'sensitive' to be revealed until then."

Suffolk Evening Star - Knife crimes higher than ever
"MORE knife crimes are being committed in Suffolk than ever before, new figures reveal today.Police in Ipswich deal with an average of two knife crimes each week with the number of incidents in the town involving bladed weapons up by 18 per cent between 2002 and 2004."

Irish Independent - Fee reduces number of information requests (reg. required)
"THE number of Freedom of Information requests submitted to the Department of the Environment has continued to plummet since the Government slapped a €15 charge on them. Prior to the introduction of the €15 fee in July 2003, the FOI office had dealt with 349 queries in 2002 and 233 in the first six months of 2003. But the Government's decision to impose a fee resulted in just 112 requests last year."

Media roundup

Kent Messegner
"THE KENT Messenger Group has revealed how the scramble for votes by politicians during the general election campaign left Kent Police with an overtime bill for more than £40,000."full story (thanks to Paul)

Birmingham Sunday Mercury - Empty city office rented for £1.1m
"The figures were obtained by Birmingham Yardley MP John Hemming through a Freedom of Information Act inquiry."

The Guardian - 'Unsuitable' firm won huge MoD contract
"Defence ministers awarded a huge nuclear contract to a company even though officials had had serious doubts about the competence of the firm, internal documents obtained by the Guardian reveal."

The Sun- Cops rake in £100k a year
"Figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show a desperate need for more cops, critics say."

The Herald - Restaurant inspection reports to go online this week
"AN alternative food guide to restaurants in Glasgow is to go online on Thursday."

The Times - Firms abuse information laws to win extra chance of NHS work
"PRIVATE companies competing for hospital contracts are abusing freedom of information laws to obtain commercial details from NHS trusts."

Green Ribbon - Foreign Office material on Iraq mercenaries released
"I paid a visit to the US Cryptome website today as a result of this story in the Guardian.Whilst there I came across some interesting Freedom of Information material on the Foreign Office guidelines for relations with Private Military companies in Iraq."

Newcastle Chronicle - Louts ignore ASBOs
"Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show only 77 breaches have resulted in prison sentences, the others received non-custodial sentences or second chances."

Gloucestershire Echo - MOD LAND CONTAINS CHEMICALS
"Information about the contamination is contained in the 2002 sales agreement for the land, which has been obtained by resident Sally Morgan under the Freedom of Information Act."

Daily Telegraph-Treasury blocks move to flat rate inflation
"The Treasury has suppressed arguments in favour of introducing a flat tax - a radically simplified system charging the same rate on all income - documents passed to The Daily Telegraph show.The system is being backed by free market reformers worldwide but a Treasury paper released under the Freedom of Information Act last month had key sections detailing the advantages blacked out."

Bath Chronicle- HOW'S THIS FOR HYPOCRISY?
"The following are two examples of the Blair government caught in the trap of profoundly unethical foreign policies and one example of sickening hypocrisy. Information disclosed by the export credit guarantee department under the Freedom of Information Act reveals the Indonesian government receiving 11 export credit guarantees worth £146,490,412 covering military and internal repression related goods since 1997."


Japan - DPJ bill would close loopholes in FOI law
"The Democratic Party of Japan recently submitted to the latest Diet session a bill to revise the Freedom of Information Law, which has been criticized for loopholes barring the public from accessing substantial information on bureaucrats, despite stipulating such information be disclosed. "

Germany: FOI

"Although a Freedom of Information law was adpted at federal level, 70 % of the population in Germany still lack Freedom of Information in communities, counties
and local states": Read more

foi-software.com

Added to the software section of the practitioner guide: details of an FOI tool called FOI tracker.

"we offer a low cost, very simple to implement software product called Compliance Tracker that uses commonly available open source components. Compliance Tracker can be used "as is" or can be tailored as required. It includes source code so that users can choose if, how, and with whom they customise Compliance Tracker."


More details at www.foi-software.com

Legal blogs

There is a feature in the law gazette on legal blogs, gives the FOIA blog a mention

News from the Office of Public Sector Information

Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information - annual report

Disputes Resolution Protocols
-Protocol between the Office of Public Sector Information and the Information Commissioner (PDF)
-Protocol between the Office of Public Sector Information and the Information Commissioner (PDF)
-Memorandum of understanding between the Office of Fair Trading and the Office of Public Sector Information (PDF)

OPSI launches ifts online in response to new PSI regulations (PDF)

Scottish Decision notices

Further decision notices have been added to the Scottish IC site and there is also a case log

Plus:
Commissioner publishes report on Scottish Executive search for records relating to institutional children’s homes and education. Download

Consultation Records Management: NHS Code of Practice

The deadline for responses to this consultation is 30 September 2005.

The guidance contained in Health Service Circular 1999/053 For the Record - Managing Records in NHS Trusts and Health Authorities, has been reviewed taking into account recent developments in records management requirements and to reflect the increased use of electronic records in the NHS. Consequent to this review, it is proposed that the 1999 guidance should be replaced with a new Records Management: NHS Code of Practice, covering all types of NHS records regardless of the media on which they are held.

The intended purpose of the Code of Practice (CoP) is to help the NHS to meet its legal obligations in the management of its records. For this to be achieved, it is important that the presentation and content of the CoP should be credible to records management professionals and also provide useful guidance for all records managers. The Department of Health is therefore undertaking a consultation exercise on the attached draft CoP and its supporting annexes, and is inviting comments on these documents from any interested parties.

Further details

Learning Events and Courses

Public Partners: "the Autumn Programme has some new and innovative courses, which will help you motivate your organisations in readiness for whatever the Winter may bring. Discounts are available on all these courses for early booking and multiple course attendance. In addition special discounts are available for our Network for Information Professionals clients. Booking forms, details of discounts, together with full details of the course content and sample programmes can be found here:" http://www.foi-uk.org/events.html

Courses include:

Clinicians and Confidentiality
The Regulations on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information
Writing for Disclosure
Human Resources and the Access to Information Regimes
FOI Gymnasium
The Interface between the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act
Data Protection for DP practitioners in the NHS
FOI in Practice: A workshop for Lawyers in the Public Sector
FOI in Practice: A workshop for Lawyers in the Private Sector
Review Clinics
Records Management: Planning for Action
Rules and Tools
FOI & EIR Induction Day
Board Induction
Awareness Raising
Intensive Coaching for Key Individuals
Dealing with Press Issues
Facilitated Discussion for Press Officers

Media roundup

South Wales Echo - Airport in crime blitz
"And figures released to the Echo by HM Revenue & Customs under the Freedom of Information Act also show that during 2002-03 more than 1.6 million cigarettes with a value of £209,000 were confiscated."

Scotsman - One council worker a week is caught speeding
"The details on speeding fines for council employees were released by local authorities across Scotland under the Freedom of Information Act."

IrishExaminer.com - GOVERNMENT must publish schools data
"... the Supreme Court has denied access to this data, overturning an earlier
High Court ruling and effectively ruling that the Freedom of Information
Act could be ..."

Scotsman - NHS criticised for not giving out statistics on leukaemia
"SCOTLAND'S information commissioner upheld a complaint against the NHS yesterday, after it breached freedom of information laws by withholding figures on childhood leukaemia."

The Technological Implications of Freedom of Information

St Andrews University and UCISA are running a one-day seminar on September 9 this year on The Technological Implications of Freedom of Information -- Response and Development.

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 help.

Who should attend:
Anyone responsible for managing Administrative or Management Information Systems
Anyone responsible for compliance with Freedom of Information legislation.

Please see the website

FOI funding in local government

It has often been unclear what funding (if any) has been made specifaclly available for FOI in local government. A source in local government has sent me the following ODPM statement.

"Additional funding was included in the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) for local, police and fire authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to cover the additional costs of implementing the Freedom of Information Act. Funding of £9m was included in 2005-06 to support these authorities . The RSG is a general grant which is used by local authorities todecide their spending priorities. As the money is not hypothecated, it is not possible to say how much was allocated to a particular authority for FOI for the current financial year."


General information about Local Government Finance: www.local.dtlr.gov.uk

Further decision notices now added

July 2005 and August 2005

More comment later...

Media roundup

Politics.co.uk - Fresh row over Iraq advice
"Emails sent by a key aide to Tony Blair regarding legal advice on invading Iraq are being kept secret, a newspaper has claimed. The Sunday Times claims the former director of government communications, Baroness Morgan, sent the e-mails after meeting Attorney General Lord Goldsmith."

BBC - New York releases 9/11 documents
"The city of New York has released thousands of fire department files from the attacks on the World Trade Center. They include transmissions recorded on 11 September 2001 and testimonies from firefighters which were gathered later. "

East Anglian Daily Times - 12 police officers charged with crimes
"The East Anglian Daily Times used the Freedom of Information Act to ask Suffolk police for details of officers charged with criminal offences during a five-year period up until July 1."

Sunday Times - Schools ‘cull pupils to lift A-level rank
"Lucas, who obtained the data from the Department for Education and Skills using the Freedom of Information Act, suggested the study showed that parents could no longer rely on schools retaining children at 16 even if they were capable of achieving reasonable A-level results."

MoD & FoI

From Government News Network

Curried Meatballs and Alien Abduction - all in a day's work for the MoD
"An old Royal Navy recipe for Curried Meatballs and the MoD's policy on Alien Abduction are just two of the 3000 requests that the MoD has received since the Freedom of Information Act came into force on 1st January."

Interesting book

If you follow or work with Privacy issues you may find the following book interesting: The Glass Consumer: Life in a Surveillance Society by Susanne Lace, includes case studies on the UK's National Health Service and the financial services sector. (Published by The Policy Press)

Synopsis
We are all 'glass consumers'. Organisations know so much about us, they can almost see through us. Governments and businesses collect and process our personal information on a massive scale. Everything we do, and everywhere we go, leaves a trail. But is this in our interests?

US FOI

POGO- Letter Urging Funding for Public Interest Declassification Board

Open the Government.org : "The House approved a bill that would fund the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) next fiscal year. Congress established the Board to advise the president on ways to prevent agencies from classifying documents that should be public. According to the House report on the 2006 Defense Appropriations Act (House Report 109-119), the House Appropriations Committee will allocate $1,000,000 to the PIDB. Even though most of its members have been named by the White House and Congressional leaders, the board has yet to meet."

Media Roundup

The Guardian - How a runner named Budd split the Tories
"Now documents released by the government have shed light on the affair, revealing how two of the heavyweights of the Thatcher administration clashed during one of the great sporting controversies of the past century."

The Guardian - Commenst - A litany of deception and secrecy
"From the Hutton inquiry to ID cards the government has been arrogant and unswerving in its ambition to remain closed."

The Guardian - news in brief
2m cost of Diana inquiry
The cost of Scotland Yard's investigation into the death of the Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash could reach almost £2m, based on figures released under the Freedom of Information Act. Salaries for the 14-strong team make up most of the spending.


Silicon.com- UK stops 13 fax marketers - but no spammers
"silicon.com obtained the government details through a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The ICO's comments follow a report from the department in which it said it required more powers to act against spam but for now the public should complain to their ISPs."

Press Gazette - Critics put pressure on the PCC to open up case files
"Lord Falconer is to consult on controversial proposals which critics hope will force the Press Complaints Commission to open its files to show how it arrives at its rulings.The Lord Chancellor (pictured right)n will launch a consultation exercise later this year to decide whether the Freedom of Information Act should be extended to private bodies carrying out a public function. Subjecting the industry's independent regulator to the same Act that applies to Whitehall departments and public bodies such as local councils would be hugely controversial, and entail a dramatic change of policy by the Government.

Scotsman - Consultations head for 1,000 mark
"THE true scale of the Executive's obsession with consultation papers was laid bare in new statistics published yesterday, which showed that ministers have launched almost 1,000 consultations since the Scottish Parliament was established six years ago."

FT.com - Treasury snubs arguments for flat tax system
"The Treasury has dismissed arguments for "flat taxes" - a simplified tax system that charges the same rate of tax on all income - as misleading and unsubstantiated, according to analysis re-leased under the Freedom of Information Act."

Daily Post (North Wales) -Energy talks must remain secret, say ministers
"DETAILS of talks about Welsh energy issues must remain secret, ministers ruled yesterday. Economic minister Andrew Davies refused a request to reveal more about Assembly discussions with Westminster under the freedom of information act. "

Surrey online - 'We're kept in dark about council's building plans'
"The group claims it has received documents through the Freedom of Information Act which reveal the council is planning to introduce more than 1,500 houses to East Grinstead in addition to the 2,500 already planned. It also says the total number of additional houses is withheld in the Draft Small Scale Housing Allocations Document, but these plans would result in a population increase of 40 per cent."

Zdnet.com - Time for the Ministry of Information?
"A minister is needed to manage the Treasury's desire to make money from public sector information, according to an advisory body."

Hendon and Finchley Times - It’s an uphill struggle to get fine facts
"THE Bucks Free Press has appealed to road safety bosses over their refusal to release information about speed cameras on Marlow Hill.A letter has been sent to the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership (TVSRP) asking them to reverse their decision to withhold figures on the number of fines issued and the amount of revenue generated by the cameras.Quoting the Freedom of Information Act, a request was made in April for figures to be divulged."

Commswatch - Ofcom and freedom of information
"As a member of the Ofcom Consumer Panel, I recently asked about applications to the regulator under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. My questions and the answers are as follows.....Requests have been varied and some are extremely complex and challenging, ranging from a tape for a Pink Floyd concert in 1967, board minutes, decision papers, Sitefinder data, requests for technical information etc."

Manchester Evening News - Metrolink: The truth
"THE MANCHESTER Evening News can today unveil a dossier of secret documents that reveals the truth about the Metrolink extension."

Canadian FOI

I had an interesting telephone conversation yesterday with the Radio station CBC one in Canada and ended up appearing on the programme Martime Noon. Part of the the programme focused on FOI and New Brunswick government's approach to open government, heavily criticised by the auditor general in his final report. They were interested to hear about the UK approach to FOI, my journal project and different FOI regimes around the world.

-Read the New Brunswick story-Read the full report of the autditor general
-Canada has both a federal law and provincial laws |(e.g New Brunswick) relating to access to information

APR Smartlogik research

IT firm APR Smartlogik have produced a research report looking at FOI so far, focusing on central and local government. Contains some interesting insights but should be looked at with some skepticism due to the lack of clarity in the sampling methods, only 15% of local government were surveyed and 50% of Central Government.

The report comes with a health warning; many of the findings being linked to technology based solutions, the report also draws some dubious parallels with the US FOIA regime which shares few similarities with the UK compared with other jurisdictions.

Download report (PDF) registration required

Worth reading in conjunction with the DCA's latest stats and the recent IC annual report

Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom call for PCC to be added to FOIA

From the CPBF website:

"The CPBF has written to Lord Falconer, head of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, calling for the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to come under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Earlier this year and before the General Election, Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) minister Estelle Morris stated in reply to a question from Clive Soley MP that: 'The FOI act does not apply to the PCC as it is not a public authority. The government strongly believes that a press free from state invention is fundamental to democracy. Designating the PCC a public authority would not be compatible with the government's support for an independent body overseeing press regulation'.

The reason why the PCC is not a public authority under the Act is that the DCMS refused to designated it at such. Many other regulatory bodies are subject to the FOI Act including the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Police Complaints Commission the Equal Opportunities Commission and even the Information Commissioner who enforces the FOI Act!"

The text of Julian Petley's (CPBF co-chair) letter to Lord Falconer is set out online:

Reminder: the Secreary of state has power to amend the Schedule one list under S4 and "Further power to designate public authorities" under S5 of the FOIA. You can see the list of extra authorities on the DCA website

Media roundup

The Guardian - Ministers linked to US casino chiefs
"The note, released under the Freedom of Information Act, was sent ahead of a meeting with MGM's European boss, Lloyd Nathan, at the House of Lords."

Daily Telegraph - Chancellor is failing to cut civil service jobs, claims report
"The figures, reported in a London newspaper yesterday, were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Despite Mr Brown's claims in this year's Budget that 12,500 posts were being cut by the end of 2004/5, not one arm of government had yet sacked anyone, with thousands of staff being reallocated to other areas, the paper claimed."

Sheffield today - Shock figures as a new football season gets under way
"THE cost of policing South Yorkshire's football matches is spiralling - and has topped £8.7 million over the last five years. Figures revealed to The Star under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the costs of match day policing have almost doubled during the period."

Egov Monitor - Latest FOI disclosure identifies names of projects reviewed
"Details of government IT programmes that have been subject to confidential Gateway Review checks have been made public for the first time. The Office of Government Commerce has made the disclosure following a request from an unknown party under the Freedom of Information Act. The OGC released on 2 August a list of 271 major IT-related programmes which it reviewed between February 2001, when the Gateway system was introduced to prevent government IT failures, and March 2004."

Holdthefrontpage - Chief reporter wins access to financial dealings despite failed FOI request
"The Eastern Daily Press has finally been able to report on the financial details of a Norfolk council after the paper threatened to report it to the local government watchdog.....Not giving up, James instead decided to use the Local Government Act 1972 provisions instead...."I mentioned a complaint to the LGO on Friday afternoon and I had the full report on Monday morning." "

Eastern Daily Press - Information laws put strain on NHS
"Greedy companies are taking advantage of freedom of information laws to boost profits at the public's expense putting an extra strain on Norfolk's overstretched health budgets.The Freedom of Information Act, which came into force on January 1, was intended to guarantee members of the public access to information held by public bodies. But eight months later staff at cash-strapped hospitals and primary care trusts (PCTs) have found themselves spending hours answering queries from private companies exploiting the act to help them market products or services at the NHS."

Media roundup

Press Gazzette - Post reviews its FOI blitz
"Reporter Emma Broom followed these up and found that Lancashire Police had cut the number of traffic police by one-fifth after speed cameras were introduced, that nearly half a million speeding tickets had been issued to people caught on camera in the past four years, that only 40 per cent of those ticketed had paid the fine, and that the renovation of Chorley town hall had overspent by £1million."

Scotsman - Huge rise in women treated for drink binges
"The figures were published by the Executive under the Freedom of Information Act and it is the first time the medical effects of binge-drinking have been revealed in such stark detail."

ICBerkshire - Ikea in talks on opening store
"In a written reply to a Chronicle inquiry under the Freedom of Information Act requesting details of top level discussions the council has had with Ikea, borough head of development Bruce Tindall admitted the company had "targeted Reading as an area they would like to open a store"

Guardian - Heads accused of prejudice in teacher test
"Teachers from ethnic minority groups and those active in trade unions are being discriminated against by heads, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act."

Guardian -US kept in the dark as secret nuclear deal was struck
"It is remarkable then, that documents lying unnoticed in the public records office at Kew should reveal Britain's hitherto unknown role 47 years ago in deceiving the US and supplying Israel with the means to go nuclear."

The Rundown - "rise" in students cheating
"A total of 6,672 incidents of plagiarism and collusion were recorded in 2003/4 at the 64 universities (around half of all) it made requests to under the Freedom of Information Act. What it doesn't make any mention of is how many were recorded in previous years, so quite how it knows they have risen is not clear."

International News
MOZAMBIQUE: Journalists welcome draft Information Bill

Landmark Australian FOI case

Taken from the Australian newspaper:

" A LANDMARK bid to obtain secret economic documents on income tax cuts and housing grants from Treasury has been dismissed by the Full Bench of the Federal Court.

In a two-one decision, the full bench upheld the Government's decision to issue conclusive certificates, government decrees that blocked access to the documents, because release was against the public interest.

The case arose after The Australian attempted to gain access under Freedom of Information laws to documents showing the true value of income tax cuts delivered by the Government and the use of the federal Government's first-home buyers scheme by wealthy individuals."

Also see the full judgement

The case should be of interest to FOI practitioners in general giving a very detailed discussion of public interest issues and use of a conclusive certficate (some similarities with S53 of the UK FOIA)

It is also interesting to see a newspaper willing to take a case this far, it remains to be seen if UK newspapers will be willing to put resources into appealing cases, particularly beyond tribunal level.

Irish IC updates

Now available on the Irish Information Commissioner's website:

Letter Decision
Case 99013 - Ms. X and the South Western Area Health Board
Case 040275 - Mr. Martin Collins and the Department of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources

High Court Judgements
The South West Area Health Board Vs The Information Commissioner

Friends of the Earth

The Friends of the Earth "Right to Know" handbook has been updated

(thanks to Andy for alerting me)

Cooking up a storm

The public can now ask for the results of restaurant food safety inspections. But are councils keen to comply?

The Guardian Society story by Rob Evans

New disclosure logs

-Stafforshire County Council
-Islington Council (London)
-Department for Education and Skills -

Open Government: a journal on freedom of information

The latest issue of the journal is now available at www.opengovjournal.org

Includes:

Editorial
Editorial Vol 2 Issue 1
Steve Wood

Research articles

Between FOI Law and FOI Culture: The Israeli Experience
Yoram Rabin, Roy Peled


Case Comment: The new Freedom of Information Law in Israel is tested by its Supreme Court
Yuval Karniel


Delay and the Freedom Of Information Act: Senator Cornyn’s legislative prescriptions
Thomas Susman


FOI – A Damp Squib or a Culture Change in the making?
Helen Gregorczuk


Viewpoints

FOI hits the UK with a bang
Robert Hazell

Getting the balance right: A Metropolitan Police Service perspective on preparing for the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000
David Chinchen, Adam Morris


The Freedom of Information Act and the Re-use Regulations
Louise Townsend, Victoria Southern

Book review
Kelvin Smith (2004) Freedom of Information – A practical guide to implementing the Act
by Andrea Simmons

Iron Mountain guide to retention path

"A free guide to record classification and retention is available from records management specialists Iron Mountain. The PDF document provides information professionals with a nine page table of document classification types and retention periods for corporate information."

Read more

Media roundup

Western Mail - Minister accused of hypocrisy in mine row
"Documents released to Plaid Cymru under the Freedom of Information Act show that former Energy Minister Mike O'Brien wrote a letter to First Minister Rhodri Morgan in support of a 998-acre opencast mine at Ffos-y-fran, near Merthyr Tydfil."

Wales on Sunday - Spun-believable!
"Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show how much the Assembly, councils and quangos are splashing out on PR experts."

Guardian - Gonzales Urged to Rescind FOIA Rules (US)
"WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press and other news organizations are encouraging Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to rescind a policy restricting public access to government information. "

Yorkshire Today - Developers face dilemma over access to documents
"developers face the risk of having their deals viewed by competitors when they send documentation to local authorities.'The new Act means that developers can obtain information about competitor's deals and vice versa, which potentially would work in the developers' favour when seeking information, but would work very much against them when pitching for new business,' he said."

Reading Chronicle -Campaigners furious over village rubbish tip
"PADWORTH campaigners furious over plans for a giant rubbish tip in their village are challenging West Berkshire Council's decision to put it so near their homes....But despite continuous requests to reveal the existence of alternative plans for the site, villagers accuse the council of refusing to come clean."

Guardian -The night Yogi and Boo-Boo helped Semolina Pilchard snare a Beatle
"A confidential Scotland Yard file, which was released at the National Archives to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that Pilcher came under strong pressure from the then home secretary, James Callaghan, after the raid on the Marylebone flat."

Guardian - World Bank rebuked over water deal
"Documents obtained under Delhi's freedom of information act show the bank intervened to the benefit of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which had failed to make the grade when the Delhi government put out the tender in 1998."

Guardian - MPs call for transparency in Olympic venue deals
"The emergence of the deal, in papers released to Building Design magazine under the Freedom of Information Act, sparked calls for parliamentary scrutiny of all deals related to the Olympics."

New DCA Guidance

Now availble from the implementation section of the DCA site:

"Freedom of information requests - recommended responses
If you respond to freedom of information (FOI) requests within your organisation, we have developed some recommended responses to help you. They cover the majority of situations departments will find themselves in throughout the FOI process. They include responses on fee issues, time limits, public interest test and consultation with third parties."

Download print version [PDF 82kb, 18 pages]

New disclosure log

Index has been updated with a new disclosure log for Kent County Council