INTERNATIONAL RIGHT TO KNOW DAY 2005

freedominfo.org update, September 28, 2005
Freedom of Information Makes News Around the World

September 28, 2005 - Since 2002, freedom of information advocates around the world have been working together to promote the right of access to information for all people and recognize the benefits of transparent and accountable governments. We use this day as a way to share ideas, strategies and success stories about the development of freedom of information laws and genuinely transparent governance.

Please follow the link below to read news highlights from the past year and see what is going on around the world to commemorate the 3rd Annual International Right to Know Day.

http://www.freedominfo.org

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, 23rd November, 2005, 9.45 – 16.30


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
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.

USA - Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos under FOIA


Guardian Story

Judgement available for download here:

Worth looking at for the context of assessing the public interest test applied by the Courts in the US

FOI in Africa

-News from Kenya

-News From Botswana

Information rights journal

From the DCA website:

"We have launched a new information rights journal to provide information rights practitioners with a round up of the latest developments in the information rights field. The journal will provide information on a wide range of issues across information rights as a whole, uniting freedom of information, data protection and the environmental information regulations. It will provide reports of emerging case law from decisions of the information commissioner and tribunal, and will serve as a useful reference tool for practitioners in central government and beyond.We aim to produce around six editions a year.

Information rights journal, volume 1 Issue 1 - September 2005 [PDF 80KB, 16 pages]

Would call this more of a newsletter than a journal, though worth keeping an eye on.

Remember the blog has monthly newsletter! (see links to the right) and the OpenGovernment Journal I run

Global Transparency Initiative Launches Final Consultation on Draft
Transparency Charter

28 September 2005 – for immediate release

"The Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) is a network of civil society organisations promoting openness at the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, European Investment Bank and Regional Development Banks. The GTI believes that people have a right to information held by public institutions and a right to participate in the development policies and projects that affect their lives. IFIs exercise significant influence and yet access to critical information from these institutions remains difficult. Despite some encouraging moves towards greater openness, the IFIs are still unacceptably
secretive.

The GTI is drafting an IFI Transparency Charter, a founding document of the GTI movement, setting out the standards and norms that we believe should govern IFI disclosure policy, and the principles that should guide its practice. As such, it is essential that the Charter reflect widespread consensus among the broader community of groups and individuals who believe in IFI openness.

We are currently in the process of finalising the Charter and today, 28 September 2005, Right to Know Day, we are launching a final round of consultations on this key document. We encourage all those who support the movement for greater openness at the IFIs to comment on the draft Charter and also to encourage feedback from a wider range of individuals and groups. The initial set of principles are the Charter itself, while them rest of the document provides commentary on these core principles.


Draft Charter is available

Media update

The Guardian - Lennon too stoned to be a revolutionary
"John Lennon was too stoned to qualify as a proper revolutionary, according to secret FBI files released this week under the Freedom of Information Act."

ICBerkshire - Council's £13,600 food bill
"BIG cheeses on the borough council chomped their way through more than £13,600 worth of snacks and hot drinks in the past year....KPMG spokeswoman Rachel Halliday said the only way to get this information would be to write to the council under the Freedom of Information Act."

Scotsman - Bail crimes triple in 5 years
"THE number of offences committed by people awaiting trial has tripled in five years, according to figures revealed to MSPs yesterday. Bail breaches in the Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders police areas, Scotland's biggest forces, rose from 1,107 in 1999 to 3,604 in 2004, according to figures obtained by the SNP under freedom of information laws."

Westmorland Gazette - Safety camera fines go to Treasury, not roads
"Figures released by the Department for Transport, after a request submitted under the Freedom of Information Act by The Westmorland Gazette, show that speed cameras in Cumbria raised £1,618,740 during 2003/04, with a £524,619 surplus going to the Treasury."

The Sunday Times - Drivers face £20 toll to reach Heathrow
"The proposals are outlined in an internal memo drawn up by transport department officials and published under the Freedom of Information Act. If approved, the charge will affect up to 150,000 motorists who use the M4 each day to enter and leave London. The fee would be imposed on top of the capital’s £8 congestion charge."

Ofcomwatch - Ofcom's FOI response on Premier League football research
"Today, I received Ofcom's official response to my Freedom of Information Act request related to research Ofcom conducted for the European Commission with respect to the FA Premier League's contracts for audiovisual carriage of its football matches. You know---football on television. For some good reason that eludes me, in Europe the airing of football matches is a regulatory / competition law issue.Ofcom won't release the information."

Radio 4 Programme on FOI

Radio 4 Tuesday 27th Sept
"20:00 A Right to Know
Michael Crick examines the impact of the Freedom of Information Act and asks whether government openness has really displaced the old habit of official secrecy. [Rptd Sun 5.00pm."

New disclosure log

Index updated with the log for:

-Historic Scotland

Free FOI Monitor

The latest release of the Government Actuary's Department's free FOI Monitor is now available. New features include a far easier navigation interface, dedicated 'Public Interest Test' and 'Appeals' forms, a useful 'Resources' page, keyboard accessible menus and a 'Reports' page.This can generate reports based on the Department of Constitutional Affairs' central monitoring reporting requirements.

Produced by Adam Pope, Information Manager, Government Actuary's Department

Download at: www.gad.gov.uk/Publications/FOI.htm

RMS North meeting

The September 2005 meeting of the RMS North Group was held at Lancashire Record Office in Preston. The theme of the day was "Back to Basics" and was designed to give those new to records management an introduction to the basic principles, as well as reminding others of the traditional practices associated with the field. The first talk for the day was from Penny Feltham (Stockport Borough Council), who discussed how the Records Manager can help the Archivist.

The day also included a case study on the growth of a records centre from Rachel Moffat (Lancashire County Council) and included a tour of Lancashire County Council's recently expanded Records Centre. The sponsors for the day were Railex Systems Ltd who gave a talk entitled "back to basics", which introduced the concept of "non-intrusive records management".

The slides from the day can be downloaded

Media update

Managing Information - IBM Achieves National Archives Approval For Records Management

CIO.com - IBM Warns on Open Documents
"In a subtle rebuke to Microsoft, IBM is warning vendors will have to be far more responsive to the mandates of government and business as governments around the world embrace open standards and open source.The warning came after the US State of Massachusetts unveiled plans earlier this month to phase out Microsoft Office in favour of office productivity suites that support an open-document format from the OASIS standards body."

Hold the Front Page - Editor withdraws FOI complaint to avoid harming future cases
"A weekly newspaper editor has called for the Information Commissioner's office to "get some fire in its belly" after he withdrew a complaint concerning the Freedom of Information Act."

Eastern daily Press -Landowner unhappy over Met Office loss
"Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that Norwich was in a strong position until it emerged that farmer Martin Kemp did not want to sell his land to allow the deal to be completed."

Contract Journal - Act helps bidders raise their game
"Contractors are using the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to sharpen up bidding techniques and gain information on failed bids, using third parties to protect their identities."

National Archives

National Archives Annual report and resource accounts 2004-2005

Now available:

-Overview
-PDF (full report)
-Section- implementing Freedom of Information (PDF)

FOI disclosures via RSS

Interesting discussion about RSS on Martin Stabe's blog. Agree with many of the comments Martin makes about disclosure logs and the use of RSS.

For those new to the topic RSS is a form of XML (a web language) for "tagging" news, enabling news feeds of updating information alongside each other in a newsreader. You can read the FOI blog as RSS .

Introduction to RSS
-Example of a free newsreader

-Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust RSS feed
- DFES RSS feed

New disclosure log

New log added to the index for Dorset Police -the first Police one I've come across.

Also added: log for Greater Manchester Police Authority (word format)

Media update

Mirror - CAMERAS NET £114M
"MOTORISTS caught by speed cameras are being fined £114 million a year, according to figures revealed yesterday. Of that, £22 million is going straight to Treasury coffers. The figures, obtained by the Conservatives under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that £92 million was spent on safety campaigns and maintaining Gatso cameras between 2003-2004."

Mirror - ANNE JIBE PROBE'S £4K COST
"POLICE spent almost £4,000 and put four senior officers on a probe into "anti-Welsh" comments by Anne Robinson on TV. In a reply under the Freedom of Information Act police said the probe cost "approximately £3,800" with 96 hours spent on the case."

Egov monitor - Appointment of new members to Advisory Panel on Public Sector information
"Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster John Hutton MP today announced the appointment of four new members to the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information."

More information on the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information is available from its web site, http://www.appsi.gov.uk

Guardian - How Mark Thatcher exploited his position - and infuriated Whitehall
"A hitherto unknown saga of Whitehall exasperation at Sir Mark Thatcher's use of his position as the prime minister's son is revealed today in files the Guardian has obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."

US FOIA -
Editor & Publisher -J-Prof's FOIA Suit Circumvents Government 'Censorship'
"NEW YORK On Aug. 4, the Pentagon agreed to henceforth respond, as expeditiously as possible, to all future Freedom of Information requests for photos of the returning coffins of service members killed in Iraq. In press accounts, credit for this change of course -- the result of a legal settlement -- was often given to a surprising source: a j-school professor in Delaware."

The Times - Student depression is costing £30m
"BRITISH universities spend £30 million a year to provide counselling for students with mental health problems. Figures obtained by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act from 18 leading universities suggest that the number of students seeking counselling has risen by more than 20 per cent to 60,000 in five years."

Formby Times - Our quest to find phone mast sites
"FORMBY Times chief reporter David Sudworth made a request to Sefton Council about phone mast applications under the Freedom of Information Act.However, officers said this request did not specifically fall within the terms of the Act as the information is already in the public domain.Bosses then pointed to a little-known mast register which is held at Balliol House, Bootle, and is open for public inspection." (Comment: a good example of information that should be added to a publication scheme, the Sefton Scheme does not currently list the mast register under the Environment class )

Media update

Guardian (media) Freedom of Information costs BBC £415k
"The BBC has revealed it has spent almost half a million pounds on processing requests under the new Freedom of Information Act but admitted the total cost to the corporation could be much higher."

Sunday Telegraph - Whitehall sees off pressure for redundancies
"But several departments, including the Home Office, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Department for Education and Skills, have failed to make anyone redundant since mid-2004, according to documents obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act."

Western Mail (Wales) - Minister in Spanish soccer ticket row
"News of the ministerial trip to the match was disclosed to Plaid Cymru after a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Under National Assembly rules, he did not have to formally declare it on the Register of Members' Interests because the value of the ticket was less than 0.5% of his salary."

Scotsman - HOLYROOD hospitality bill soars to £768,000
"Figures released by the Executive under the Freedom of Information
Act showed the hospitality bill for 1999-2000 was £340,000."

Media update

The Register - UK council pays £7.7m to escape outsourcing deal
"Bedfordshire County Council has paid business service provider HBS £7.7m to terminate its £250m, 12-year outsourcing contract prematurely.Details of the settlement reached last month had been confidential, but were disclosed by the Council under the Freedom of Information Act."

The Guardian - Dirt, droppings and decay: the state of many kitchens
"The extent of decay, and the sheer dirtiness, of many school kitchens has emerged from a survey of more than 200 local authorities by the Guardian. Reports from food safety inspections at schools across the country, released under the Freedom of Information Act, detail some of the shortcomings that inspectors found over the past year."

Plus:
-Extracts from food inspection reports: local authorities A-M
-Extracts from food inspection reports: local authorities N-Z

Liverpool Echo - Primary school's red tape madness
"THE family of a boy who broke his front teeth in a playground accident were told: "If you want to know what happened, use the Freedom of Information Act."

Belfast Telegraph -£80m paid to protect potential targets of terrorists
"ALMOST £80m has been spent by security chiefs on protecting vulnerable targets from paramilitaries since the first ceasefires.The sum, which includes the predicted spend for this year, has been devoted to the Key Persons Protection Scheme for public figures, members of the security forces and politicians who may come under threat. The news highlights the grip which Ulster's underworld holds on public life and follows a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request by the Belfast Telegraph."

Press Gazette - Scottish FoI office receives double the expected appeals
"Kevin Dunion, Scottish information commissioner, told the Society of Editors (Scotland) annual seminar that his office had received more than double the anticipated number of appeals for information to be released."

Act Now Autumn 2005 Program

- Sep 22nd RIPA SPoC Accreditation, London, 2 days
- Sep 28th 2nd annual FOI Conference, London
- Sep 29th Records Management, London
- Sep 30th FOI & Confidentiality workshop, London


- Oct 3rd FOI Decisionmakers, Manchester
- Oct 5th Inaugural NI FOI Conference , Belfast
- Oct 7th Data Protection and Employee Data, London
- Oct 13th FOI Decisionmakers, London
- Oct 13th Data Protection A to Z, Edinburgh
- Oct 14th Copyright & the Re-use of Public Sector Data, London
- Oct 18th Access to personal data under DP & FOI, York (pm)
- Oct 18th Records Management, Edinburgh
- Oct 20th Contract Drafting, Manchester
- Oct 25th FOI & Confidentiality workshop, Manchester
- Oct 26th Environmental Information Regulations, London
- Oct 27th Giving Effective Evidence, London
- Oct 31st Access to personal data under DP & FOI, London (pm)
- Oct 31st The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regs, Belfast(pm)

- Nov 1st Records Management, York
- Nov 2nd Data Protection, Belfast
- Nov 4th Copyright & the Re-use of Public Sector Data, Manchester
- Nov 7th RIP & Surveillance Law, London
- Nov 8th FOI Decisionmakers, Cardiff
- Nov 9th FOI Decisionmakers, Edinburgh (Scottish Act)
- Nov 15th Records Management, Dublin
- Nov 16th Contract Drafting, London
- Nov 17th FOI & Confidentiality workshop, York
- Nov 17th Data Protection A to Z, Manchester
- Nov 22nd FOI Decisionmakers, Belfast
- Nov 24th Giving Effective Evidence, Manchester
- Nov 29th RIP(S)A & Surveillance Law, Edinburgh
- Nov 30th Data Protection: Marketing and Promotion, London

- Dec 1st Records Management Advanced, London
- Dec 5th Data Sharing : The Law and Practice, Manchester
- Dec 7th Data Protection A to Z, London
- Dec 7th The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regs, Edinburgh (pm)
- Dec 12th RIPA SPoC Accreditation, London, 2 days
- Dec 14th Data Protection and Employee Data, Manchester

Full dowloadable course information and online booking at: www.actnow.org.uk

Media update

BBC news -Saudis silent on diplomat's fate
"The Saudis say he will not be able to return to the UK, but have offered no information as to his fate. The Foreign Office has refused to hand over papers on the case, despite a BBC freedom of information request."

BBC news - Papers reveal oil fears over SNP
"A secret Whitehall dossier written 30 years ago has revealed that Labour ministers were concerned about the case for Scottish independence."

The Star, Sheffield - £38M police overtime bill
"Figures uncovered by The Star under the Freedom of Information Act show that, from April 2000 to July 2005, South Yorkshire Police spent £38,454,649 on overtime - £34,194,459 from its own funds and £4,260,190 from special grants from other organisations."

US FOIA
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press- Reporters Committee Releases 5th Edition of War Report
"The 84-page report, called "Homefront Confidential: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public's Right to Know," outlines actions taken over the last four years by state and federal government agencies that limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs."

Best Practices on Transparency Among IFIs

freedominfo.org IFTI Watch Update, September 12, 2005
http://www.freedominfo.org

"Washington, DC - The Asian Development Bank has pulled markedly ahead of other international financial institutions in its standards for disclosure and civic participation, but like its sister international organizations the ADB continues make slow progress when measured against the increasingly refined transparency agenda of critics, according to a new article published today on freedominfo.org's IFTI Watch column."

Disclosure log updated

Disclosure log added for the Rural Payments Agency

Fees guidance from IC

The IC website states that new guidance on fees will be coming soon. Will report details when I get them.

Media update

The Sunday Times - NEW pub law will fuel rape and murder, say police
"Its 30-page report, released under the Freedom of Information Act,
recommends that the riot squad be put on standby 24 hours a day."

Scotsman - PUBLIC bodies must clean up
"SCOTLAND'S Freedom of Information Act has been in effect for eight months, however some public authorities are still struggling with compliance. Further awareness and training are essential to ensure the success of the Act in Scotland. It has been put into action to give anyone - individuals and organisations - the right to obtain." (Reg. required)

Richmond and Twickenham Times- Campaigners’ bombshell sinks report
"Yet their bid to bring the controversy to a conclusion was shattered when the objectors revealed new documents recovered from the District Auditor under the Freedom of Information Act."

Spy UK blog - Metropolitan Police FOIA - inflexible data systems
"Our amended FOIA request (attached below) to the Metropolitan Police about the number of applications and authorisations, arrests and charges, under sectioms 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 has again been rejected, on the grounds that even this cut down request, would still take more than 18 hours to comply with, just like our original FOIA request."

Green Party - Intellectual resources need to be "in the public domain"
"Proposed amendments would abolish Crown Copyright, a protection for most material originated by ministers and civil servants, and promote the Creative Commons, which offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. The Party would require Open Access publishing for publicly-funded academies. Alternative compensation schemes, providing money to research the world's most pressing health problems, would also be promoted."

Local Government Internation Bureau - Open up
"A cross party group of British MEPs has urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to use the Government’s European Presidency to end the practice of legislating in secret at EU level. The leaders of all the UK political groups in the European Parliament signed the unprecedented joint declaration, calling for more open government."

The Guardian - Revenue rejects data requests
"The Freedom of Information Act doesn't impress the taxman, writes Phillip Inman.... "It is not possible to release copies of all requests and our responses as this information could be confidential, and both could contain personal information which would not be appropriate to release."

US FOIA
Logical Voice - Freedom of Information requests filed for Katrina related communications

OpenTheGovernment - 2nd annual report on secrecy
"For every dollar spent declassifying old secrets, federal agencies spent a record in 2004 of $148 creating and storing new secrets. Agency heads are shifting taxpayer dollars from efforts at declassifying pages of documents to efforts to secure its existing secrets."

Act Now 2nd Annual Conference

Act Now 2nd Annual Conference
"FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: The Story So Far"
28 September 2005 : 9.45am – 4.30pm
The Selfridge Hotel, Central London

Main Speakers:
Keynote Address: Gerrard Tracey Assistant Information Commissioner

Maurice Frankel, Director Campaign for Freedom of Information

Rob Evans, Westminster Correspondent, The Guardian

Gervase Hood, Information Rights Division
Department for Constitutional Affairs

Dai Davis, Head of IT Group (North)
Nabarro Nathanson Solicitors

Chaired by : Steve Wood
Senior lecturer in Information Management and editor of the FOI Blog
Liverpool John Moores University

Plus Paul Simpkins, Ibrahim Hasan and experts from the health
and local government sectors

Still places available.....More details

Documents reveal hidden EU cooperation with US

Taken from the Statewatch website:

"The EU and the US are preventing the full extent of their cooperation on the "war on terrorism" from being revealed, leaked documents seen by the Guardian show...After a four-year struggle for information, Statewatch was provided with copies of 35 agendas of meetings between EU and US officials; 458 agenda items were deleted.Last month it applied for four more. They were refused on the grounds that they could "prejudice the relations between the EU and the United States" or "considerably hamper the efforts taken internationally to prevent terrorist acts" "

FOI Live 2005 Practitioner Survey Report

From UCL Constitution Unit:

"On 16 June 2005 at the Third Annual Information Conference for the Public Sector: FOI Live 2005 133 FOI practitioners from central government, local government, the NHS, universities and other organizations subject to the FOI Act completed a surveyof their experiences with FOI through the first half of this year. The survey was designed and distributed by the Constitution Unit, whoseaim was to 'take the pulse' of the FOI community after the initial six months of implementation."

download a PDF version of the survey report

Information Management Training Services

New courses from a new player in the FOI training (and related) market: Information Management Training Services:

·Data Protection Information Handling and data sharing - speaker Alan
Stead
3 November Birmingham

·Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations Dealing with requests Comparison of FOIA and EIR ? Speaker Alan Stead
27 October Newcastle and 9 November Norwich

·Environmental Information Regulations Full day looking at application of EIR -Speaker Alan Stead
19th October Nottingham, 7 December London

·Freedom of Information Act A practical look at exemptions and public interest test -Speaker Alan Stead
12 December Birmingham

·Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations ½ day courses in the application of the regulations - Course being arranged

·Records Management as a tool towards Compliance - Speaker Paul Dodgson
20th October Manchester

·EDRM How to introduce EDRM into your organisation - Speaker Paul Dodgson
17th November Birmingham and 15th December London

"Also we are able to offer massive 40% discounts on Unicom courses in September and November on FOI and the Unicom Conference in September if booked through us."

For more details on our courses and speakers and how to book please visit us at
www.im-ts.co.uk.

Media update part two

Scotsman - CRUISE firms sail into health storm
"We decided to use the Freedom of Information Act to check ... on cruise ships carried out by inspectors from the Ports Health Authority in the UK made freely."

IC Huddersfield - 94,923 caught over speed limit
"Huddersfield-based road safety charity Brake have mixed views about the figures. The figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information
Act."

British Journal of Psychiatry- The Freedom of Information Act 2000: should psychiatrists be worried?

Press Gazette - HUGE drop in use of Irish FoI Act
"Irish Government statistics have confirmed the dramatic decline in the use of the Freedom of Information Act since the Government introduced restrictions."

IC Coventry - LIBRARIES hit in vandal attacks
"More than half of libraries in Warwick-shire were vandalised in the last year the Evening Telegraph can reveal today. Of the 29 libraries, 16 suffered at the hands of yobs who caused a total damage bill of nearly £13,000."

FT.com - UK companies use FoI to give them an edge
"The private sector appears to be waking up to the possibilities offered by the Freedom of Information Act.But when consultants and lawyers explain how companies can use the legislation to help them bid for public sector contracts, they are commonly met with the response: “We can’t be seen to be doing this."

E-Health - QoF data to be published online
"Practices will no longer have to release Quality and Outcome Framework data if asked to do so under the Freedom of Information Act as data will be in the public domain from tomorrow (August 31), GPs have been told. Revised guidance on the Freedom of Information Act from the British Medical Association’s GP committee advises GPs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that QoF data including details of achievement at individual practice and individual indicator level is due to be published at the end of August."

Guardian (Letters) - What Birt didn't see
"John Birt claims the media are too superficial in their political reporting (Birt attacks 'easy cruelty' of tabloid Britain, August 27), but fails to mention the root cause - an intensely secretive and controlling government.
Until the Freedom of Information Act came into force on January 1 2005, reporters - and the public - had few legal means of finding out what government was up to with our money. Is it any wonder that journalists became "obsessed not with policy, but with personality"?"

IC Berkshire - NO 1 area for vehicle crime revealed
"the town's number one vehicle crime blackspot in figures obtained by the Chronicle from Thames Valley Police under the Freedom of Information Act"

The Times - GO-AHEAD for league tables of hospital death rate
"ONE of Britain’s leading hospitals has become the first to publish all of its death rates online, in a move that is expected to start a flood of information being made available to patients."

Ireland
Irish Examiner- Freedom of Information - FOI fees must be reassessed

Media update part one

Selection of articles from the last two weeks, if I missed anything do let me know.

Supply Management.com - Enquirers mask their true identities
"Some suppliers requesting details of failed bids under the Freedom of Information Act are hiding their identities because of fears such requests may hamper future contract awards.The trend, whereby would-be suppliers use third parties including private e-mail addresses, solicitors or consultants to mount enquiries, has caused some public-sector bodies to reveal more details of their contract awards."

Glasgow Evening Times - Watchdog raps city chiefs over police secrets
"A WATCHDOG has rapped Glasgow council bosses for trying to keep details of its communications with police secret."

Cambridge Evening News - Statistics may have trapped Shipman
"The new Freedom of Information Act means there's going to be much more information available to people, but that also means there's the possibility of people over-reacting, say to a cluster of deaths. We should be sensible about when to react to a situation and when not to."

The Guardian - Councils slump in customer satisfaction league
"The NCC, which represents consumer interests, compiled the list by using information unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act to show how well served the public feels by different services."

The Guardian - £1.6bn deficit to force cuts in NHS
"Health Emergency said its information was extracted from papers presented to NHS organisations' boards during the summer and published under the freedom of information scheme."

BBC News - LETTERS show nuclear safety worry
"Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that inspectors
were worried about the strength of some parts of the reactor's graphite
core."

The Guardian - Crackdown planned on student visa abuse
"The Sunday Times reported yesterday that, according to information obtained from 37 universities under the Freedom of Information Act, 17,000 students failed to take up a place at university after confirming an offer."

Daily Mail - A Hitler blitz that misfired
"A faked edition of the London Evening Standard created by the Nazis in an attempt to demoralise the British public is revealed for the first time today....The newspaper has been gathering dust in MI5 files for decades and has now been released to the National Archives under the Freedom of Information Act. "

Daily Telegraph - Blair called on to disclose who paid for luxury holiday yachts
"Tony Blair faced demands from MPs last night to disclose the cost of his recent holiday. The Prime Minister was urged to abandon the secrecy surrounding his Barbados trip after it was revealed that three yachts were chartered to take him and his security entourage on a five day cruise."

Part two to follow later

Media roundup

The blog is back! thanks to all readers for the continued interest while the blog has been offline.

Some news from the IC Office:

Publication Scheme Submission Timetable 2006 - 2008
"The Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires public authorities to adopt and maintain a publication scheme which has been approved by the Information Commissioner. Publication schemes are approved for a period of four years (although the Commissioner reserves the right to vary this for particular publication schemes, if appropriate). The first round of publication schemes for 1st Wave authorities was approved in November 2002 so their approval will expire in November 2006. Therefore we will be receiving submissions for Wave 1 authorities from July 2006. The schedule below shows when public authorities from different sectors are required to submit a new version of their scheme to the Information Commissioner and the date from which the information in thier schemes should be made available."

Read more (scroll down)