FOI on The World Tonight
Dec 30, 2004 FOI in the news
Tonight’s programme on BBC Radio 4 featured a report on FOI by reporter Paul Moss. He interviews several campaigners who plan to use the new Act including myself.
A discussion followed with Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information and The Guardian’s investigative editor David Leigh.
If you missed the programme you [...]
Guardian FOI package
Dec 30, 2004 Access Laws, FOI in the news
The Guardian published an excellent series of articles today in readiness for implementation of the Freedom of Information Act this Saturday. It includes primers on using the UK and Scottish Acts and the new Environmental Information Regulations. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas also contributes a piece with a particularly welcome statement:
‘As the enforcer of this legislation, [...]
Skye Bridge: a scandal of secrecy
Dec 29, 2004 Companies
Guardian columnist and activist George Monbiot used his column in yesterday’s paper to draw attention to the cost of secrecy in relation to Scotland’s Skye Bridge. The cost of building the bridge went from £25m to £93m and the public authority has refused to disclose its contract to the very people who paid for [...]
FOI will transform writing of history
Dec 29, 2004 Access Laws
Two articles in the Scotsman yesterday on FOI:
Freedom Act Will Transform Writing of History
The Scotsman – Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
By Gavin Cordon, PA Whitehall Editor. The writing of modern British history will be transformed when the Freedom of Information Act takes effect. …
Freedom of Information Act Q&A
With the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 next [...]
Arms firms plan to thwart disclosure law
Dec 29, 2004 Companies, Defence
An article in the Guardian on Christmas eve highlighted several recent incidents where the government has backed down from requiring public authorities to reject broad confidentiality agreements.
The Ministry of Defense has written to arms firms promising them a virtual veto, according the article. And the code of practice on implementing the law, which urged [...]
Independent’s shredding repeat
Dec 23, 2004 Central Government, FOI in the news
The Independent has carbon copied the shredding investigation that Ben Fenton and I published in the Daily Telegraph Novermber 29, 2004. See the original story here. The Independent took their figures from a series of written questions asked by MP Julian Lewis rather than filing an Open Government request.
Hundreds of thousands of government documents [...]
Friends of the Earth ‘Right to Know’ site goes live
Dec 22, 2004 Access Laws, Environment
Friends of the Earth’s Right to Know website went live yesterday – www.RightToKnowOnline.org
The site features an Information Request Generator, a quick and easy way to request information from government bodies. At the moment it is set up for central government bodies but in due course it will cover many more public [...]
Information Watchdog Probes Deleted Emails Claim
Dec 22, 2004 Central Government
A couple of articles followed-up the Times story last week about the Cabinet Office’s brutal policy of destroying email in advance of the Freedom of Information Act.
Andrew Woodcock, the Press Association’s Political Correspondent, wrote a piece that appeared in The Scotsman.
Information Watchdog Probes Deleted Emails Claim
Tue 21 Dec 2004
The watchdog charged with [...]
Food Standards Agency: Access to minutes
Dec 16, 2004 Environment
The Food Standards Agency – the government food safety watchdog, albeit with few teeth – announced it will make available agendas and papers for board meetings along with final copies of the minutes. They are available online here.
You can register for the next FSA board meeting by complete the Registration form. For other queries [...]
Land Registry Publication Scheme
Dec 15, 2004 Environment
The Land Registry has put a new version of its Publication Scheme online that you can download as a pdf file here (file size: 661 Kb).
The scheme lists all the types of information the Land Registry will make public. You can access several of the more important documents, such as annual reports and [...]
