Article: 266 ways the state can enter your home
Apr 23, 2007 Articles, Freedom of Information
I wrote my first big column for the Times today on the Centre for Policy Studies’ report on entry powers. As part of their study, I made several freedom of information requests to try and discover the extent to which some of these entry powers are used. As a postscript, Harriet, it transpires has expired, [...]
Today’s vote to make MPs unaccountable
Apr 20, 2007 Central Government, Freedom of Information
As I write, MPs are today debating whether to exempt themselves from their own freedom of information law. This goes directly against explicit claims made by the House of Commons to improve public information and engagement.
Barry Wintrobe, academic and author of the Number 10 petition against the Bill has sent over a collection of MPs’ [...]
Times: MPs seek to exempt themselves from own law
Apr 19, 2007 Articles, Central Government, Freedom of Information
After being terribly lazy and not pitching any articles for a while, I am back in action with a piece in today’s Times.
What do MPs think they’ve got to hide?
The Times, Thunderer, April 19, 2007
By Heather Brooke
Tomorrow MPs will debate exempting themselves from their own law of openness. The prospect of escaping scrutiny from prying [...]
The truth is in the data – or lack of it
Apr 5, 2007 Access Laws, Freedom of Information
Following on from the previous post, I received an answer yesterday to my FOI request seeking the full costs of the Government’s survey commissioned from Frontier Economics, the first consultation, and the ‘consultation on the consultation’.
I discovered that while the Government is content to spend taxpayers’ money on the cost of being accountable to the [...]
Consultation on a consultation
Apr 5, 2007 Access Laws, Freedom of Information
Bureaucrats’ love of bureaucracy never ceases to surprise me. Another example comes by way of the recent Government climbdown on emasculating the freedom of information law.
Not able to bring themselves to admit the whole exercise was a massive time-waster, the Government has instead initiated a consultation on their previous consultation. Apparentely, they didn’t like the [...]
Courts failing to protect privacy
Apr 5, 2007 FOI in the news, Freedom of Information, Justice & Courts
A journalist who came on one of my courses has been in touch to tell me about a freedom of informaton success.
Rupert White from the Law Gazette battled many months of delay and obstruction from the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Courts Service while trying to find out [...]
