FOI Archive to be launched
Sep 28, 2006 Freedom of Information
A couple of years ago I visited the National Security Archives in Washington DC, USA and thought: wouldn’t it be great if we had something similar in Britain – a searchable digital archive of freedom of information requests and responses available freely to all. I asked if anyone else was interested in such a project.
The [...]
FOI around the world
Sep 21, 2006 Access Laws
David Banisar’s Freedom of Information Around the World 2006, a global survey of access to government information laws, was released today by Privacy International. The Survey provides a comprehensive review of Freedom of Information Laws and practices in nearly 70 countries around the world.
The survey draws attention to the growing movement around the world [...]
Press coverage of Commons Secrecy
Sep 20, 2006 Access Laws, Central Government, FOI in Parliament
BBC News
Speaker bans naming of MPs’ staff
Commons Speaker Michael Martin has vetoed a request for the names and salaries of MPs’ staff who are paid for by the taxpayer, it has emerged.
Daily Telegraph
Commons uses veto on freedom of information
…The Speaker of the House used a veto allowed by what is known as the [...]
Mobile Phone base station data to be published
Sep 18, 2006 Access Laws
The Information Commissioner has served a Decision Notice under the Environmental Information Regulations ordering Ofcom to provide all data on mobile phone base stations held within its Sitefinder database.
Cellular base stations receive and transmit signals to and from mobile phones. The Sitefinder database was set up in response to the Stewart Report. The report [...]
The all-seeing eye now talks
Sep 18, 2006 Law Enforcement
The Daily Mail reports in an article today (Big Brother is shouting at you) that Middlesbrough has fitted loudspeakers on seven of its 158 CCTV cameras so that control room operators can now give out verbal warnings.
“This isn’t about keeping tabs on people, it’s about making the streets safer for the law-abiding majority and [...]
Secrecy may be forced on MPs
Sep 15, 2006 Access Laws, Central Government
A funny story in today’s Sheffield newspaper about the Information Commissioner’s ruling on Tuesday that David Blunkett MP would have to reveal the number of rail warrants claimed from Parliament.
Expenses claim puzzle for MP
…Mr Blunkett says his travel expenses were never kept a secret and today hit out at the whole procedure.
“This is so [...]
How pre-trial publicity works
Sep 15, 2006 Law Enforcement
Take a look at these two pictures:
Yesterday’s newspapers contained a photograph of the living room of a suburban semi packed with guns that the police described as a ‘weapons cache’. A 55-year-old man, Michael Shepherd, who is a licensed and well-known gun collector, was charged with gun trafficking and supplying illegal wapons to black gangs [...]
Directory of MPs’ staff
Sep 13, 2006 Central Government, FOI in Parliament
While politicians are wasting taxpayer money and wielding certificates to try and censor information which the public clearly have a right to know, it transpires that most of the names of MPs staff are already in the public domain. I have built a convenient Excel spreadsheet of the staff and research assistants working within Parliament [...]
Parliament exempt from own law; regulator powerless to order disclosure
Sep 13, 2006 Access Laws, Central Government, FOI in Parliament
House of Commons issues certificate banning disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act
The House of Commons has refused to release the names and salaries of MPs staff paid from the public purse using a loophole in the Freedom of Information Act.
In a decision notice soon to be published, the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas ruled [...]
MPs expenses a little less murky
Sep 12, 2006 Central Government
The Information Commissioner today issued a press release publicising one of his rare decisions made advancing government transparency and accountability.
His ruling involved three complainants who requested a breakdown of travel claims made by MP Anne Moffat for herself and for her spouse. A further complainant asked for the number of rail warrants [...]
