FOI exposes mast mistakes

A journalist who attended my NUJ course wrote in to tell me of his FOI experience. Malcolm Prior sent FOI requests to 41 councils and the resulting stories are running on the BBC News website, BBC South Today and local radio stations:
Council mast blunders uncovered – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4838152.stm
Eastleigh case study – Nurse fights [...]

British Transport Police FOI contact

New details for making FOI requests to British Transport Police:
Freedom of Information Manager
25 Camden Road
London, NW1 9LN
Or you can make a request online using the feedback form.
British Transport Police cover the national railways, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the Midland Metro Tram System and Croydon Tramlink.

New Commissioner caseload

Here is the latest database showing all the cases received by the Information Commssioner’s Office. The Commissioner is still refusing to proactively publish this data unlike his Scottish counterpart. Instead it is only available on this website after I made a Freedom of Information request for it.
This database was received 14 March 2006.
Information Commissioner’s [...]

Free Our Data

The Guardian technology section has launched an excellent campaign to ‘Free Our Data’. I’ve been banging on about this for years, so it’s good to see the idea gaining momentum.
The Guardian uses the example that it’s easier to create UK maps using the American Google Maps than our own Ordnance Survey. This [...]

Latest figures on Commissioner backlog

MP Norman Baker asked for the latest figures on the Information Commissioner’s backlog. It is now running at 1,373 cases. Of the 1,196 cases closed, only 59 resulted in an order of disclosure. The Commissioner ruled much more often against the complainant with 696 refusals. Many of the cases are being resolved informally (417), which [...]

FOI in Parliament 27 Feb-2 March 2006

Highlights – The National Archives has received 171 requests for access to information contained in the 1911 census returns, and 14 appeals from inquirers who have been denied access to this information.
27 February 2006
Written Answers – Trade & Industry
Peter Law (Blaenau Gwent, Ind): If the Minister for Trade and Industry will list the freedom [...]

FOI in Parliament: 14-26 February 2006

Highlights this week: MP Bob Spink continues to ask departments if they have received any money to process FOI (answer, no). MPs are also pursuing the difficulties obtaining census data from 1911 and 1921 despite FOI.
14 February 2006
Written Answers – Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information Act
Bob Spink (Castle Point, Con): What total [...]