Standing before the Information Tribunal
Dec 22, 2006 Access Laws, Freedom of Information
I attended my first Information Tribunal hearing this week. The case was heard on Wednesday 20th December 2006 to determine whether or not the Information Commissioner was correct in his decision to uphold the BBC’s refusal to release the minutes of meetings held in the wake of the Hutton report. The meetings resulted in the [...]
Statute Law Database launched today
Dec 20, 2006 Freedom of Information, Justice & Courts
The Department for Constitutional Affairs launched today announced the launch of the first UK Statute Law Database. This is one small victory for Your Right to Know and the Guardian’s Free Our Data campaign. I will be testing out the version in the next few days and give a more full account after Christmas.
The [...]
IPS – Identifying Pisspoor Service
Dec 13, 2006 Central Government, Freedom of Information
A three-month ordeal with the Identity and Passport Service has left me wondering how on earth this bureaucracy intends to manage the personal details of 60 million Britons when it not only loses FOI requests but even FOI Officers!
On 29th August I made an FOI request for a documentary I was working on. I asked [...]
New Contact Details: DEFRA
Dec 13, 2006 Book Updates, Environment, Freedom of Information
Clive Porro
Access to Information Unit
Departmant for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
3-8 Whitehall Place
London SW1A 2HH
Clive.porro@defra.gsi.gov
Tel: 020 7270 8883
Email: accesstoinfo@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Article: Academic use of freedom of information
Dec 13, 2006 Articles, Freedom of Information
Right to know under attack
Information World Review, by Heather Brooke
27 Nov 2006
Of the 250 freedom of information requests received by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority since January 2005, 87 have been from academics or students. This growing field of academic research will be killed off if the government gets its way.
Government proposals have [...]
FOI Filer and Archive gets funding
Dec 6, 2006 Freedom of Information
The new Freedom of Information Filer and Archive project has just received funding from the Joseph Rowntree Trust, says Tom Steinberg, director of mySociety.
Tom says the team will being working on the project early on in the New Year. This is great news so congratulations to all those at mySociety for making it happen. [...]
