Thunderer: This Man Must Be Watched
Oct 31, 2006 Articles, FOI in the news, Freedom of Information
The Times and Sunday Times published a series of articles over the last few days taking a critical look at the work of the Information Commissioner. The flagship piece was an interview with Richard Thomas, the incumbent commissioner, which dealt mainly with scares about government surveillance and criminals gaining access to your bank account.
The Sunday [...]
MPs’ Expenses
Oct 30, 2006 Central Government, FOI in the news, Freedom of Information
The House of Commons Commission published MPs’ and Lords’ expenses on Thursday (26 October) generating a good deal of press coverage. I was live on Sky News debating with Grant Shapps the reasons why MPs should provide a more detailed breakdown of their expenses.
We’d been told the expenses would be published at the highly inconvenient [...]
London Mayor’s appointment diary
Oct 30, 2006 FOI in the news, Freedom of Information, Local Government
On Monday 23 October, the Evening Standard published a double-page spread based on documents I freed from the Mayor of London’s Office.
I made a Freedom of Information request for the Mayor’s appointment diary for the past financial year (March 2004-April 2005) and to Ken Livingstone’s credit, I received 78 pages detailing the mayor’s meetings, lunches, [...]
Commons Early Day Motion on FOI fees
Oct 25, 2006 FOI in Parliament, Freedom of Information
Over 100 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion criticising the Goverment’s proposals to stifle your rights under the Freedom of Information Act.
Did your MP support this motion? Whether they did or not, consider writing to them and expressing your opinion about the proposed changes.
Remember, anyone in a position of power is a natural opponent [...]
Freedom of information is better value than most government
Oct 20, 2006 FOI in the news, Freedom of Information
In a week when the Government is claiming that £35 million spent on answering FOI requests is a reason for curbing our right to know, it’s worth considering where that cost comes from. Of course, the figure is puffed up for propaganda purposes. But, as Computer Weekly reports, ministers are also happy to retain expensive [...]
Policing Islamic Protests
Oct 19, 2006 Freedom of Information, Law Enforcement
The recent hoohah over Muslim veils has prompted me to upload a request I made last Spring to the Metropolitan (London) police about the way they handle Islamic protests. You can find the documents on the Secret Squirrel page.
Any casual observer will note that the best, and seemingly the only way, to avoid arrest for [...]
FOI in Parliament: 9 – 17 October 2006
Oct 18, 2006 FOI in Parliament
Here are some highlights from recent Parliamentary debate and answers:
17 October
Oral Answers to Questions – Constitutional Affairs
An interesting discussion yesterday about the Government’s proposed changes to the FOI law and why so many central government requests are managed by Ministers directly. The Government also revealed that the Information Commissioner’s office has received 4,292 cases [...]
Fire Safety reports
Oct 18, 2006 Law Enforcement, Local Government
News at last! It’s only taken 18 months, but I had a call from an investigator at the Information Commissioner’s Office last week to say that the prohibition on disclosure that blocked the release of fire inspection reports (section 21 of the Fire Precautions Act 1971) was repealed by the new Fire Safety law that [...]
Statement from Parliamentary Committee Chairman
Oct 18, 2006 FOI in Parliament
The Chariman of the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, Rt Hon Alan Beith MP, issued the following statement about the Government’s response to the committee’s report: Freedom of Information – one year on.
“The Committee welcomes the fact that the Government says it does not intend to introduce a flat fee for all FOI requests. However we [...]
Freedom of information under fire
Oct 17, 2006 Access Laws, FOI in Parliament
The Labour Government yesterday unveiled the results of its review of the FOI law. It’s bad enough that a review of government openness is conducted in total secrecy but now we discover that politicians have also forked out £75,000 to private company Frontier Economics to justify curtailing the public’s right to know.
The report by Frontier [...]
