Media update

National News

Observer - TonyBlair -Comment -I don't destroy liberties, I protect them
"This government has introduced the Human Rights Act, so that, for the first time, a citizen can challenge the power of the state solely on the basis of an infringement of human rights, and the Freedom of Information Act, the most open thing any British government has done since the Reform Acts of the 1830s."

Indepedent - Sir Jeremy Isaacs: History man - a life in pictures
""I found out from the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act that [the old guard] had presented me with this ultimatum two days before the governors were due to meet to consider whether or not they wanted a one-subject Panorama," says Isaacs with a wry smile."

BBC news - Inmates show high levels of drugs
"A survey has shown high levels of illegal drug use among inmates in South West prisons. Statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed almost 25% of inmates gave positive tests."


Regional News

IC North Wales - TB livestock test lottery revealed
"The Badger Trust used the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to assess how consistently farm animal health, welfare and transport rules are being enforced in English and Welsh counties where there is a persistent problem with bovine tuberculosis (TB)."

Aberdeen City Council - Compulsory registration of private landlords
"Press release- All private landlords in the North-east will soon be required to register with their local authority....Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the register will be a public one and will be viewable online, or by request from a local authority. Searches can be conducted by inputting a landlord's name and/or the leased property address. The register will show a contact name and address for either the landlord or any agent working on their behalf."

IC Coventry - Why can't I phone my police station direct
"He was so incensed with having to call an 0845 number that he used the Government's secret-busting Freedom of Information Act to demand that they tell him what it is. But he received a letter from police headquarters in Birmingham saying it was "not in the public interest to release this information".

Belfast Telegraph - Police in the dock
"Almost 30 serving PSNI officers have been accused of criminal offences since the beginning of 2004, including attempted murder, sexual assaults, and drink driving, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today."

Kent online - Exam results for school that officially 'didn't exist'
"THE former Ramsgate School in Thanet had the lowest GCSE pass rate and highest truancy levels in Kent last year, it has emerged. The school did not feature in the Government’s official league tables released in January because it re-opened as the specialist Marlowe Academy last September. At the time the national results were issued, the Department for Education said it had not published those for the Margate Academy because officially, the school no longer existed. Meanwhile, Kent County Council said it did not have them. However, as a result of request made by the Thanet Extra under the Freedom of Information Act, Kent County Council has now provided the provisional data for the school collected at the time."

Overseas FOI

al-Jazeera - Almost 100 died in U.S. custody in Iraq, Afghanistan
""These are documents based on army investigative reports, documents that we've obtained from the government or that have come out through freedom of information act requests in the United States,” she told Newsnight program."

Guardian - Blogger bares Rumsfeld's post 9/11 orders
"Hours after a commercial plane struck the Pentagon on September 11 2001 the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was issuing rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of Iraqi involvement, according to notes taken by one of them.
"Hard to get good case. Need to move swiftly," the notes say. "Near term target needs - go massive - sweep it all up, things related and not." The handwritten notes, with some parts blanked out, were declassified this month in response to a request by a law student and blogger, Thad Anderson, under the US Freedom of Information Act. Anderson has posted them on his blog at outragedmoderates.org."

Actnow Training

March 2006 Seminars

Mar 2nd FOI Exemptions workshop, York

Mar 6th Data Protection from A to Z, London

Mar 7th Records Management, Edinburgh

Mar 14th RIPA & Surveillance Law, Bradford

Mar 22nd Anti Social Behaviour Orders, Bradford

Mar 23rd Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations, York

Mar 28th The New European Procurement Rules, York

Mar 29th FOISA & Commercial Confidentiality workshop, Edinburgh

Most Act Now Seminars are accredited by The Bar Council, The Law Society and (ILEX) The Institute of Legal Executives.

The cost of all Act Now seminars is £199 + vat, which includes lunch, refreshments & workbook.

All Act Now seminars start at 10am and finish 4pm.
All venues are city centre close to transport links.

Spring & Summer 2006 courses programme now avavilable - www.actnow.org.uk

ICO press release

Date: 27 February 2006

Information Commissioner orders disclosure of Ryanair and Derry City Airport agreement

The Information Commissioner has ordered Derry City Council to disclose the agreement between Ryanair and Derry City Airport on the airline’s use of the airport and how much the airline pays to use airport facilities.

Derry City Council, which owns and manages the airport, had refused to release the information, which was requested under the Freedom of Information Act, stating that it was exempt under section 29 (1)(a)(the economy), section 41, (information in confidence) and section 43(2) (commercial interests) of the Act.

The Council argued that releasing the agreement could prejudice the economic interests of the region and commercial interests of the airport and of Ryanair.

The Commissioner does not accept that the Council provided the evidence to show that there was a ‘real and significant’ risk that disclosure would be likely to cause such prejudice. Furthermore, as the agreement itself is some six years old, some of the information is now in the public domain, and any that is not is unlikely to pose a real threat to future commercial arrangements.

The Commissioner has therefore ordered that the information is released within 30 days of the issue of the Decision Notice.

ENDS

Full transcript of Decision

Press release from the Information Commissioner

For immediate release

Date: 27 February 2006

Making data protection simpler: advice for professionals

The Information Commissioner’s Office is today publishing simple advice for professionals, including teachers, social workers, doctors and nurses, about how they record professional opinions and what to do when these are challenged under the Data Protection Act.

David Smith, Deputy Information Commissioner, said: “Professionals who record an opinion about someone – for instance a doctor recording an opinion about a patient’s health or a teacher recording an opinion about a pupil’s abilities - are strongly advised to study this new good practice note carefully. It is designed to help them in their work.”

This good practice note is being published in response to requests to the Information Commissioner’s Office for further clarification on this matter. The note provides examples of good practice and makes clear that the record should show that it is a professional’s opinion, not a fact. The record should provide enough information to allow it to be interpreted correctly. The good practice note also provides guidance on the importance of recording information that is accurate and relevant, and outlines for how long an opinion should be kept.

One example in the good practice note concerns medical records: a patient gets a copy of his medical file from his GP and disputes an opinion recorded in it. The solution is for the surgery to explain that the record must be kept as a true record of the doctor’s professional opinion but to include the patient’s comments clearly on the file. If the patient also provides convincing evidence that the record includes incorrect factual information then the correct information should be recorded. However a record of the error may need to be kept, for example if the patient has received treatment on the basis of the erroneous information.

David Smith added: “The Data Protection Act gives everyone a right to see information that is held about them including any opinions. Professionals need to be aware of this and understand, what action is required when an individual challenges one of their opinions.”

The advice on recording professional opinions is part of a series of good practice notes produced by the Information Commissioner’s Office to make data protection simpler. To download a copy go to www.ico.gov.uk

If you need more information, please contact the Information Commissioner’s press office on 020 7282 2960 or visit the website at: www.ico.gov.uk

ENDS

BBC - new FOI news page

The blog has some more competition - the BBC now has a dedicated news page for FOI, see www.bbc.co.uk/foinews. The page also has an RSS feed.

New authorities added to FOIA

The Freedom of Information (Additional Public Authorities) Order 2006 (SI 2005 No 3593). View full order

Bodies added:

The Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information.

The British Transport Police Authority.

A courts board established under section 4 of the Courts Act 2003.

The Commission for Integrated Transport.

The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee.

The Family Justice Council.

The Family Procedure Rule Committee.

The General Optical Council.

The Independent Groundwater Complaints Administrator.

The Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts.

The Sentencing Guidelines Council.

The Gaelic Media Service, in respect of information held for purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature.

The Registrar General for England and Wales

International FOI

The Australian - High Court test case on Costello FOI
"The challenge, brought by The Weekend Australian's Freedom of Information editor Michael McKinnon, will have repercussions for the right of citizens to gain access to government documents. The appeal follows requests by McKinnon three years ago for access to secret government documents on income tax and the first-home buyers scheme."

Mexico Federal Institute for Access to Public Information and the Culture of Transparency
"With the support of the Hewlett Foundation, PGCS prepared a report on the IFAI and Mexico's Culture of Transparency. The final report was released on February 20, 2006...IFAI is an extraordinary institution that, in its infancy, is developing strong and pioneering mechanisms to enhance transparency of democratic processes in Mexico. It can do so for structural reasons that are absent in many other legal regimes, and also because of mechanisms of support from civil society, from stakeholders, and, to some extent, from international funders."
Download the report (PDF)

Scottish ICO annual report

Scots embrace freedom of information
Date: 23 Feb 2006 - 09:20
Source: Scottish Information Commissioner

"The Scottish public has enthusiastically embraced freedom of information in its first year of operation in Scotland.That is one of the main conclusions of the Annual Report of the Scottish Information Commissioner published today."

Read the full report

Latest decision notices

Some important new cases here - the personal data aspect of the House of Commons cases -"The Commissioner found that the requested information is personal information which can be disclosed without contravening any of the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and, consequently, that the exemption provided by section 40(2) of the Act does not apply" and the first decisions relating to the BBC and also the first major cases inlvolving s.36(2)(b)(ii) on the FOIA- "(2) Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the information under this Act-b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit-(ii) the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation". The ICO did not uphold the complaint. The Guardian and Heather Brooke both made the requests and will I presume appeal.

Note:The UCL Constitution Unit provide a useful index of the decisions so far by section of the Act cited and you can also search.

Case Ref: FS50071194
Date: 22/02/06
Public Authority: House of Commons
Summary: The complainant requested a breakdown of travel expenses claimed by individual MP's over the past three years into the following three
categories: car travel, rail travel and air travel. An aggregate figure is not broken down into different categories of transport, as the complaint requested. The House of Commons withheld the information on the basis that it was exempt under section 40(2) of the Act. The Commissioner found that the requested information is personal information which can be disclosed without contravening any of the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and, consequently, that the exemption provided by section 40(2) of the Act does not apply. Therefore the Commissioner's decision is that the House has breached section 1(1) of the Act and in that it incorrectly withheld the requested information on the basis that it was exempt under section 40(2). The steps required for compliance with Part 1 of the Act are specified in the Decision Notice,
and in this case the Commissioner requires the House of Commons to release the requested information to the complainant within 30 days of the date of the Decision Notice.
Section of the Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.40(2) - Complaint Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50071194

Case Ref: FS50072319
Date: 22/02/06
Public Authority: House of Commons
Summary: The complainant requested a breakdown of the travel expenses claimed by individual MP's for the most recent year for which figures are available into the following four categories: rail travel, road travel, air travel and bicycle. An aggregate figure for travel expenses for each MP is already published but this figure is not broken down into different categories of transport, as the complaint requested. The House withheld the information on the basis that it was exempt under section 40(2) of the Act. The Commissioner found that the requested information is personal information which can be disclosed without contravening any of the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and, consequently, that the exemption provided by section 40(2) of the Act does not apply. Therefore the Commissioner's decision is that the House has breached section 1(1) of the Act in that it incorrectly withheld the requested information on the basis that it was exempt under section 40(2). The steps required for compliance with Part 1 of the Act are specified in the Decision Notice, and in this case the Commissioner requires the House
of Commons to release the requested information to the complainant within 30 days of the date of the Decision Notice.
Section of the Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.40(2) - Complaint Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50072319

Case Ref: FS50073129
Date: 15/02/06
Public Authority: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Summary: The complainant requested copies of all minutes from meetings held by the BBC's Board of Governors during the time period 16 - 31 January 2004. The BBC refused to disclose the information requested, citing the exemption provided by section 36 (2) (b) (ii) (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs). The Commissioner confirmed that the requirement under this section of the Act that the decision be made by the appropriate qualified person exercising a reasonable opinion had been properly carried out. The Commissioner also agreed that section 36 (2) (b) (ii) had been correctly applied to the information sought. While acknowledging the public interest argument in favour of disclosure the Commissioner decided that, given the particular circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosure.
Section of Act/EIR & Findings: FOI s.36(2)(b)(ii) - Complaint Not Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50073129


Case Ref: FS50070769
Date: 15/02/06
Public Authority: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Summary: The complainant requested a copy of the agenda and minutes of the special meeting of the BBC Board of Governors on 28 January 2004. The BBC refused to disclose the information requested, citing the exemption provided by section 36 (2) (b) (ii) (prejudice to effective conduct if public affairs). The Commissioner confirmed that the requirement under this section of the Act that the decision be made by the appropriate qualified person exercising a reasonable opinion had been properly carried out. The Commissioner also agreed that section 36 (2) (b) (ii) had been correctly applied to the information sought. While acknowledging the public interest argument in favour of disclosure the Commissioner decided that, given the particular circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosure.
Section of Act/EIR & Findings: FOI s.36(2)(b)(ii) - Complaint Not Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50070769


Case Ref: FS50066295
Date: 15/02/06
Public Authority: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Summary: The complainant requested a copy of the minutes from the BBC's Board of Governors meeting held on 28 and 29 January 2004. The BBC refused to disclose this information requested, citing the exemption provided by section 36 (2) (b) (ii) (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs). The Commissioner confirmed that the requirement under this section of the Act that the decision be made by the appropriate qualified person exercising a reasonable opinion was properly carried out. The Commissioner also agreed that section 36 (2) (b) (ii) had been correctly applied to the information sought. While acknowledging the public interest argument in favour of disclosure the Commissioner decided that, given the particular circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosure.
Section of Act/EIR & Findings: FOI s36(2)(b)(ii) - Complaint Not Upheld.
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50066295


Case Ref: FS50081566
Date: 14/02/06
Public Authority: Department for Transport Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB)
Summary: The complainant requested the registration details of five aircraft impounded on the night of 21 December 1988, the names of the airlines involved, the reason for the grounding of these aircrafts and the authority that implemented the action. When informed by the AAIB that the information was not held the complainant maintained that it did exist. Having investigated this matter the ICO is satisfied that the AAIB does not hold the information requested.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.1 - Complaint Not Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50081566


Case Ref: FS50096401
Date: 14/02/06
Public Authority: Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
Summary: The complainant requested access to the registration details of five aircraft impounded on the night of 21 December 1988, the names of the airlines involved, the reason for the grounding of these aircrafts and the authority that implemented the action. The CAA informed the complainant maintained that it did exist. Having investigated this matter the ICO is satisfied that the CAA does not hold the information requested.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.1 - Complaint Not Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50096401


Case Ref: FS50072193
Date: 14/02/06
Public Authority: Kerrier District Council
Summary: The complainant requested information relating to an earlier complaint he had made about a planning matter, and following receipt of the information complained to the Commissioner as he considered the Council's response to be out of time. However, the Commissioner considered the matter and decided that the Council had complied with their statutory obligations by providing a response within 20 working days.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.10 Complaint Not Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50072193


Case Ref: FS50074158
Date: 14/02/06
Public Authority: London Borough of Brent (LBB)
Summary: The complainant requested copies of any documentation which resulted from an earlier complaint made to LBB about a planning issue. The public authority failed to respond within 20 working days and despite a follow up request did not provide a response until the Commissioner intervened. Therefore LBB failed to meet their obligations under the Act, but as LBB have now responded no further action is required.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.1 Complaint Upheld; FOI s.10 Complaint Upheld
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50074158

ICO emails about 1911 Census

Denis McCready from "The UK Centre for Census Access Studies (Solihull)" has alerted me to the requests (and reponses) they have made to the ICO about the 1911 Census.

Read the full details. Note the comments and discussion on the webpage are from the UK Centre for Census Access Studies and not this blog.

Thanks to Denis for alerting me

U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review

Taken from the NY Times - "In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private historians."

DCA's Information Rights Journal

The 2nd issue the Information Rights Journal prodcued by the DCA is now available.

Download issue 2 (PDF)

Contents:

Editorial
In the News
Future events
Recent Developments
Simplifying Data Protection
Freedom of Information in the US
Recent articles
ICO decisions
IT decisions
Other jurisdictions

Media update

The Times - UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells
"Environmental scientists who uncovered the figures through freedom of information laws say it is evidence that depleted uranium from the shells was carried by wind currents to Britain."


The Guardian - Dyke files to remain under wraps
"The minutes of the BBC governors' meeting that sealed the fate of former director general Greg Dyke will remain secret, the information commissioner has ruled."

The Guardian - Foreign Office denies advice claims
"The Foreign Office has denied being influenced by "commercial considerations" when it omitted to mention the number of Britons murdered in Thailand in a summary on travel advice to the country. Emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the BBC, revealed officials considered revising guidelines to travellers in the wake of Katherine Horton's murder last month."

E-gov monitor - GMB claims Vertex Scottish move costs Westminster Council residents £179m
"GMB's investigations show that the £179 million will be the cost to Westminster borough residents following the disclosure of documentation via the Freedom of Information Act over the last three years. GMB has been tracking the use of Westminster Council money in getting Vertex into the provision of public services in the borough even though it would have been cheaper to have kept services within the borough boundaries, "in-house."


The Register - £179m council outsourcing costs disputed
"The £179m figure is based on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, from Westminster City Council in the past three years. The GMB said it had been tracking how Westminster had been spending taxpayers money in outsourcing services through Vertex, when it believes it would have been cheaper keeping them "inhouse".

BBC News - Scots student nurses 'drop out'
"Data obtained by Nursing Standard magazine under the Freedom of Information Act, showed 29% dropped out between 2000 and 2004."

BBC News - Ministers 'have set Olympic goal'
"Mr Robertson told the BBC News website that he had asked Sports Minister Richard Caborn in the Commons whether there was a target and that this had been denied. He had then tried to find out whether there was any target under the Freedom of Information Act."

Belfast Telegraph - Prisoners collect almost £1m in compensation
"Almost £1m in compensation has been forked out to prisoners for complaints as wide ranging as stress, food poisoning or annoyance at cell searches, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today."

BBC News - Lab not guilty of animal cruelty
"Much of the information requested by ADI about the licences was exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, because of the threat from radical groups."


Young People Now - Antisocial Behaviour: Police send 500 young people home under dispersal powers
"The statistics, gained using the Freedom of Information Act, show that at least 809 zones were set up and 14,375 people moved on in the period."

IC Wales - Bourne probes nuclear energy talks
"NUCLEAR energy talks between Assembly ministers and Westminster must contain “deeply embarrassing” information that the government is trying to keep private, Conservative Assembly group leader Nick Bourne claimed today. Mr Bourne said that a request he made using Freedom of Information legislation for details of any discussions had been refused."

Surrey online - Council spent £712 on biscuits in eight months
"A BELLY-BUSTING £712.25 was spent on biscuits by Mole Valley District Council in the space of eight months, a Leatherhead Advertiser investigation has revealed."


Press Gazette - Post appeals £9,000 charge for FoI request
"The Birmingham Post has appealed to the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, after Birmingham City Council charged £9,000 to answer a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The council said the charge covered the cost of gathering data on how much it spent on first-class rail fares and taxis for employees last year, which the newspaper requested. The council admitted it had no central system for collating this information, which Birmingham Post acting editor Tony Lennox said was unacceptable."

International news

US FOI
New Standard - Groups May Win Release of NSA Spying Documents
"Privacy watchdog groups may soon get some answers from the federal government about the controversial National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic surveillance program undertaken after the September 11 terror attacks. Responding to several consolidated lawsuits in federal court last week, the Department of Justice indicated that it could begin releasing documents relating to the presidential order in early March. In a joint action last week, the nonprofit National Security Archives and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit alleging that the Justice Department violated the Freedom of Information Act by not providing them with documents about the program requested in separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filings last year."

Radio Cayman - Freedom Of Information Campaign Launched
"The Leader of Government Business Hon Kurt Tibbetts today made a nationwide call for people to help craft freedom of information legislation. Mr. Tibbetts says the goal is to have as much consultation and get as much feedback from the general public and various sectors of the community to have the draft bill ready for debate in the Legislative Assembly in June. Shortly after that, once everything is ready, the legislation would take effect."

Lib Dem Leadership Election

Taken from BBC news: "Sir Menzies is also demanding a civil service with its "independence guaranteed" and a more "robust" Freedom of Information Act."

My FOIA request for the al-Jazeera memo

My request for internal review has received (after prompting about the timescale) the following reponse:

"Thank you for your e mail of 14 February. We anticipate providing a
response to your internal review of 23 January by Friday 31 March.If we
are unable to provide a response by this date, we will let you know."

See my previous posts on this topic

Latest decisions

The Rugby case is worth noting as it covers the Environmental Information Regulations

Case Ref: FS50082265
Date: 13/02/06
Public Authority: Surrey County Council
Summary: The complainant alleged that the Council failed to comply with an information request within 20 working days of receipt. The Commissioner found that this was the case and so upheld the complaint. However, as the request was complied with outside the time limit the Decision Notice does not require the Council to take any further steps.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.10 Complaint Upheld.
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50088256

Case Ref: FS50072105
Date: 13/02/06
Public Authority: Rugby Borough Council
Summary: The complainant requested information about a planning application, and the Commissioner has found this request was not dealt with within 20 working days. Additionally, information was withheld from the response to the request without a valid reason, and without the issuing of a valid refusal notice. Therefore the Decision Notice requires the public authority to supply all information that was withheld without valid reason. In addition the complainant also alleged that the Council had not provided the information in the form requested, the Commissioner found no evidence of this and so this aspect of the complaint has not been upheld.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR r.5(1) Upheld, EIR r.5(2) Upheld, EIR r.6(1) Not Upheld, EIR r.14 Upheld.
Full transcript of Decision Notice FS50072105

Case Ref: FS50078524
Date: 13/02/06
Public Authority: Tandridge District Council
Summary: The Complainant requested information from the Council relating to a report written for it by a consultant. The requests contained a number of aspects and while the Council did partly respond it does not appear that the responses from the Council fulfilled the requirements of section 1 of the Act. The Decision Notice therefore requires the council to respond to all aspects of the original request in accordance to the Act.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.1 Complaint Upheld.
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50078524

Case Ref: FS50071802
Date: 08/02/06
Public Authority: Home Office
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI s.1 - Complaint not upheld
Summary: On 4th January the complainant requested a copy of the 'Dunbar report, the findings of an inquiry conducted by Ian Dunbar into a riot which took place at HM Remand Centre Risley between 30th April and 3rd May 1989. The Home Office stated that the report could not be found. Following intervention from the Commissioner, the Home Office searched further and confirmed that there was no record of the report, concluding that it was not held. On the balance of evidence, the Commissioner has accepted this conclusion.
Full Transcript of Decision Notice FS50071802

Pending appeals at the tribunal

There are more appeals pending on the tribunal website, including the DFES and DTI decisions I mentioned a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the tribunal site does not cross ref the decisions on the ICO site.

Freedom of Information: Overview of FOIA Countries Worldwide ­

Detailed overview compiled by Roger Vleugels with help from the Freedom of Information Advocates Network (FOIA Network): download (PDF)

JISC Records Retention In Further Education Resource

JISC and JISC InfoNet are pleased to announce the launch of an important new resource for supporting the development of effective records management within the FE sector.

Following on from the Revised Study of the Records Lifecycle and HE Records Retention Schedule launched by JISC in 2003 this new release produces a generic records retention schedule to be adopted and used by institutions in the Further Education Sector.

This new resource adopts the same functional approach as its HE predecessor, making it applicable to the full range of FE institutions. Enhancements to this version include:

-Improved layout
-Cross references to the HE Records Retention Schedule
-Cross references to relevant entries in both the UK and Scottish Model Publication Schemes

The Records Retention in Further Education Resource is available online

Media update

BBC news - Info watchdog 'needs more staff'
"The freedom of information watchdog wants more resources to cope with the backlog of complaints about government bodies failing to reveal their files."

BBC news - Lab not guilty of animal cruelty
"Animal cruelty allegations against an East Lothian lab have been thrown out following a Home Office investigation."

The Mirror - 'VACCINE LINK' TO 18 DEAD TOTS
"EIGHTEEN babies in the last four years have died after being vaccinated. But it is feared there could have been up to 40 deaths and 8,000 cases of serious reaction to jabs. Two tots died of unknown causes, one was a cot death and a fourth developed meningitis after MMR vaccinations in 2001-2004. There were six fatalities following meningitis C vaccinations in 2001-2003. The deaths of seven other babies were linked to combined vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Another baby died after a polio jab. The fatalities emerged in a secret government report seen under the Freedom of Information Act."

Press Gazette - Kate Moss turns FoI Act on police and Sun reporter
"Supermodel Kate Moss has successfully demanded to see the transcript of an interview between Sun crime editor Mike Sullivan and Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur."

International
Justice Initiative- ALBANIAN SECRECY BILL THREATENS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
"The Open Society Justice Initiative and an Albanian rights group today released a letter to Speaker of the Albanian Assembly Jozefina Topalli, seeking to stop passage of a new bill that would undermine Albania’s fledgling freedom of information laws."

Germany - Freedom of information: Federal Foreign Office uses hefty fees as
deterrent

FOIA developments

Some interesting news about possible changes to the FOI regime emerged over the weekend. Lord Facolner outlined that the he would look at the fees regime in terms of allowing for time for officials to "read" documents to be included in the cost calculations. From this I deduce that the fees regulations would be ammended to allow the cost of considering exemptions to be included. This was announced on the today programme on radio 4 on Saturday, the programme also included a debate with the Historian Peter Hennessey about access to information for Historians under the FOIA. (also see report at 24Dash.com)

This was linked to the Conference at the British Academy on "Scholarship and FOI" on Saturday Chaired by Peter Hennessey at which both Lord Falconer and Richard Thomas spoke. Other developments that emerged included Lord Falconer stating that he intends Academy Schools and Private Prisons to be made public authorities under the FOIA. Richard Thomas also gave some information about the 1911 census issue and said that he had written to the Natioanl Archives asking them to clarify a number of issues relating to their non disclosure of the census. I attended the conference and will post a more detailed report later.

Lord Falconer's speech is on the DCA website

Steve

Direct.gov

The Government's main web portal, direct.gov is now advertising the the freedom of information act via sponsored search results on yahoo using the overture service (but interestingly not google) - if you search for "freedom of information act": see this example. The link takes you through to some (fairly poor) generalised pages about FOI. Out of interest I've made an FOI request to see how much traffic this is generating and how much they are paying per click. This is quite an important development in terms of how the government plans to promote the Act, given the cautious approach in 2005.

Media update

National News

BBC news - Security bodies 'knew of bomber'
"Information about Khan's employment record has been released by Education Leeds following a request under the Freedom of Information Act."

Oberserver - Row over second jobs for police deepens
"Concerns over moonlighting police officers intensified yesterday as it emerged nearly 80 in Norfolk alone have second jobs. Inspectors and sergeants are among those supplementing their income with extra positions which have included work as caretakers and car salesmen. According to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act, 79 police officers, including 22 sergeants, seven inspectors and two superintendents, currently have second jobs."

BBC news - Surgery death rates to be issued
"The death rates for all Scottish surgeons are to be published on Monday. Health administrators have been forced to reveal the totals under the Freedom of Information Act."

The Times - Call for testing as thousands carry superbug into hospital
"Data from 63 of the 174 acute NHS trusts of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) occurrence, obtained by the Tories under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal 34,432 hospital cases in 2004. Few hospitals calculate total MRSA incidence and none publishes the results."

Daily Telegraph - Movie flops you paid for without buying a ticket
"The box-office figures, released to this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, show that some of the council's smallest investments have been among its biggest hits."

Scotland on Sunday - Quango's £30m injection to cement Scotland as centre of stem cell research
"Scottish Enterprise chief executive Jack Perry has come under pressure to increase funding for the ITIs. Last year ITI Energy's advisory board wrote to him to ask for a 66% increase in each ITI's annual budget from £15m to £25m, according to a letter obtained by Scotland on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act."

Regional News

This is York - 24 football thugs are barred from World Cup finals
"Of the two dozen fans covered by the orders, 11 are York City supporters, according to figures obtained by the Evening Press from North Yorkshire Police, under the Freedom of Information Act."

Sunderland Echo - War of the wards
"Figures obtained by the Echo through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that, on average, officers have been called to the hospital every other day during the past two years."

Bridgnorth Journal - Store case costs row
"A High Court row in which Bridgnorth District Council defended a judicial review, has cost the Westgate authority in the order of £30,000. The estimated figure is revealed publicly for the first time in a letter to Much Wenlock man Malcolm MacIntyre-Read, who has quizzed the council under the Freedom of Information Act."

Wandsworth Guardian - Hospital blunder led to man on run
"The independent inquiry, published last year and obtained by the Balham and Tooting Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act, blames both Springfield and Broadmoor staff for the abscontion on September 8, 2004."

al-JAzeera memo

The 2nd Al Jazeera Forum: "Defending Freedom, Defining Responsibility" took place last week. The Blairwatch site has been blogging from the conference. The US TV Station Democracy now broadcast an interview with Dan Mason from Blairwatch about the memo and another interview with Wadah Khanfar, Managing Director of Al Jazeera. (both links take you a page where you can watch a stream)

No news on my application for internal review at present

Canada: Secrecy culture rebuked in report

Toronto Star - Secrecy culture rebuked in report
"Federal bureaucrats should not be keeping so many secrets from Canadians, Justice John Gomery said as he urged a dramatic overhaul of access-to-information legislation to throw open government filing cabinets, as well as computer records.Knocking what he called a growing culture of secrecy, Gomery said yesterday that information laws should be turned on their head."

The Gomery Commission website

Report Background

Latest Tribunal decision

John Connor Press Associates Limited v The Information Commissioner
IT Decision: "We have decided to allow the appeal. As the information in issue has now been disclosed to the Appellant we make no further direction or order." Read the full notice

I have reproduced some of the detail below, though suggest that the full text is well worth reading in detail, upon reading this decsion I've outlined that this decision is important for the following reasons:

-It again offers an opposing interpretation of the FOIA by the Tribunal compared to the IC's deliberations even though the notice was not formally overturned because the information had since been released

-S13 of document outlines that Counsel for the IC argued that the Tribunal should take a restrictive view of the appeal (focusing on more on S50 of the FOIA rather than S58), which the Tribunal rejected

-The notice offers a first tribunal perspective on the "would, or would be likely to" part of the "prejudice the commercial interests" exemption, quoting a pervious DPA case that states the term was interpreted as: "connotes a degree of probability where there is a very significant and weighty chance of prejudice to the identified public interests.". The Tribunal finds that: "We have concluded that in this particular case the threshold we have sought to define was not achieved."

-The triubnal notes that "insufficient information about the structure of the arrangements being negotiated with Beth Derbyshire at the time was brought to light to enable the Commissioner to conclude that NMM’s negotiating position would have been undermined had the unredacted documents been disclosed.". Although the triubnal does not mention (perhaps not being the remit for this case) it is interesting to suggest whether the issuing of an information notice (under S51 of the FOIA) by the ICO for all information might menat more information could have been forthcoming as evidence of the circumstances. According the the request I made late last year to teh ICO, an information notice was not issued for this case. (See the spreadsheet I received from the ICO in December 2005, listing all INs issued so far)

Overview of the originalk request: "John Connor Press Associates Limited requested National Maritime Museum to provide it with all documentation and correspondence relating to any king public the financial details of the negotiations which immediately preceded those active negotiations.". The NMM used S43(2) to withold "all financial information" in the release made. JCPAL appealed to the IC. "By the time that the Information Commissioner had completed his investigation, pursuant to that application, and had issued a Decision Notice (which he did on 20 June 2005), NMM had concluded that the commercial sensitivity of the previously withhold financial information had declined to such a level that un-redacted copies of the relevant documents could be released."...."The Decision Notice recorded that the Information Commissioner had concluded that the financial information fell within the exemption provided by Section 43(2) and that the public interest in maintaining that exemption overrode the public interest in disclosing the information at the relevant time.". JCPA still decided to appeal the decision.

The appeal:
"In its amended Grounds of Appeal JCPA set out two grounds of appeal. The first ground was most accurately summarised in paragraph 3 of the Commissioner’s amended Reply, in which he said that it was that “the Commissioner…wrongly decided that the exemption under section 43 (2) of the Act is relevant to this case”.

The second ground of appeal was that, if the financial data in question was exempt
information, it should still have been disclosed on the basis that the public interest indisclosure outweighed the public interest in protecting the NMM from the prejudice it was likely to suffer as the result of disclosure. For the reasons given below we have concluded that the first ground of appeal succeeds and we do not therefore need to give further consideration to the second ground."

"The question we have to answer in relation to the first ground of appeal is whether disclosure of the particular information withheld from JCPA would have been “likely” to cause such prejudice to the NMM, at the time when disclosure was refused, by undermining its negotiating position with Beth Derbyshire. We interpret the expression “likely to prejudice” as meaning that the chance of prejudice being suffered should be more than a hypothetical or remote possibility; there must have been a real and significant risk. We draw support for that view from the words of Mr Justice Munby in R (on the application of Lord) v Secretary of State for the Home Office [2003] EWHC 2073 (Admin), a case in which the same expression fell to be construed under the Data Protection Act 1998. He said: “I accept that “likely” … does not mean more probable than not. But on the other hand, it must connote a significantly greater degree of probability than merely ‘more than fanciable’ ”. A little later he said that in his view the word “connotes a degree of probability where there is a very significant and weighty chance of prejudice to the identified public interests. The degree of risk must be such that there ‘may very well’ be prejudice to those interests, even if the risk falls short of being more probable than not”.

We have concluded that in this particular case the threshold we have sought to define was not achieved for the following reasons:
(a) The information that NMM had already disclosed would have provided any artist entering into negotiations with NMM with a lot of information (as summarised in paragraph 5 above) that would be valuable to him or her;
(b) The fact that it had already been disclosed that the contract with Conrad Shawcross provided for a contribution to the cost of materials, as opposed, for example, to a flat fee, reduces very materially the value of the financial information that was withheld;
(c) The nature of the works created by Conrad Shawcross and Beth Derbyshire were so different that they could not be treated as true comparables, for the purpose of negotiation, particularly in view of the level of disclosure referred to in (a) above - we were not convinced that the similarities relied upon by Ms Hogan (see paragraph 14 above) were especially relevant in this respect; and 17 We also concluded that, despite Ms Hogan’s efforts to investigate the position fully and the NMM’s cooperation and evident commitment to public disclosure, insufficient information about the structure of the arrangements being negotiated with Beth Derbyshire at the time was brought to light to enable the Commissioner to conclude that NMM’s negotiating position would have been undermined had the unredacted documents been disclosed."

"We have accordingly concluded that no sufficient risk of prejudice to the commercial interests of the NMM was demonstrated to justify the exemption under section 43(2) being applied to the redacted financial information at the relevant time."

View the original Decision Notice from the IC

Media update

National News

The Guardian - Without a prayer
"Using the Freedom of Information Act, Education Guardian discovered that, in September 2005, Canon Slade admitted 268 11-year-olds, from 87 different primary schools. Over a quarter of those children were not from Bolton - families send their children to the school from Bury, Blackburn, Salford and Manchester. The eight primary schools within easy travelling distance sent just 39 children."

The Guardian - Information commissioner clashes with Whitehall over deleting civil servants' names in FOI requests
"Civil servants are refusing to accept a landmark ruling from the independent information commissioner which forbids them from routinely deleting their names before releasing documents. Freedom of information campaigners yesterday condemned the practice of keeping identities secret. They were also angered by proposals from the lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, to reject outright many FOI requests on grounds of cost, by tightening up the rules about use of civil servants' time. Campaigners say this could block thousands of requests."

The Independent - Tables turned as health inspectors tell Ramsay: 'Clean that freezer now'
"So you might think that when local authority health inspectors called at Ramsay's kitchens they would have found them spotless. But you'd be wrong. Their inspections, obtained by The Independent under the Freedom of Information Act, are likely to embarrass the celebrity star of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares as well as some of London's other leading restaurateurs, whose reports have also been seen."

Regional News

Leeds Today - SCHOOLS IN £3M DEBTS CRISIS
"Schools in West Yorkshire are being crippled by debts of millions of pounds, shocking figures show.
One Leeds secondary school, Intake High School Arts College was £210,850 in the red, during the 2004 to 2005 financial year. The state of the finances of schools in West Yorkshire was laid bare when the Department for Education and Skills released documents under the Freedom of Information Act."