Scottish FOI Act could be applied to more organisations

Posted by Martin Stabe on 30 June 2008 at 09:40
Tags: Broadcast, Freedom of Information, National Newspapers, New Media, Regional Newspapers

Journalists in Scotland could get the chance to file Freedom of Information Act requests to a wider range of bodies.

Scottish ministers are considering extending the scope of the Scottish version of the FOI Act, which applies to public bodies in Scotland, BBC News reports.

Housing associations, private finance projects and private prisons are among a number of new organsiations that could become subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act.

The UK-wide Freedom of Information Act 2000 can also be extended to further public bodies.

The Government held a consultation on extending the list of bodies subject requests filed under the Act earlier this year.

As part of that process, the Campaign For Freedom of Information called for voluntary organisations and private bodies that perform public functions, such as academy schools, housing associations, new deal communities partnerships and local strategic partnerships — to be added to the list of bodies subject to the Act.

FOI campaigner: Privacy concerns misplaced on crime map plan

Posted by Martin Stabe on 26 June 2008 at 13:16
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism, National Newspapers, Online, Regional Newspapers

London mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to disclose maps of crimes committed in the capital is being held up by “an unthinking, fetishistic attitude towards privacy“, freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke argues in the Times today.

“When I was a crime reporter in America, I was able to view all police incident reports, jail booking records and every warrant signed by the magistrate. I had some privileges as a reporter, but all this information was considered to belong to the public,” she notes.

In Britain, by contrast, she has found similar data is impossible to obtain, even under the Freedom of Information Act.

Brooke notes that crime maps that hold local police to account are a fixture of local newpapers’ websites in the United States, and that a number of independent sites, like Everyblock and Spotcrime, have emerged to provide more detailed views of local crime data.

In April, the Conservative Party has pledged to introduce crime mapping in the UK, and Johnson said during his campaign for Mayor that he would begin work toward introducing the policy to London on “day one” of his administration.

The plan now has Government support. But it has also plan has faced opposition from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, who fear its effect on house prices.

More crucially, the Information Commissioner’s office has advised police that the plan could breach the Data Protection Act and violate the privacy of crime victims.

Commons fight to keep expenses secret from journalists cost £170k

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 3 June 2008 at 09:26
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism, Law

Commons Speaker Michael Martin spent £170,000 of taxpayers’ money in a failed bid to see of a Freedom of Information bid to reveal MPs’ expenses. 

The Daily Mail reports that MPs spent £82,673 on their own legal fees and a further £39,000 for the journalists who fought in court to make MPs disclose their spending. There is another bill of £48,847 for other legal advice relating to MPs’ expenses.

Freedom of Information bill for Isle of Man

Posted by Martin Stabe on 27 May 2008 at 14:29
Tags: Freedom of Information, Regional Newspapers

The Isle of Man could get its own Freedom of Information Act.

The chief minister, Tony Brown, told the island’s parliament, the Tynwald, that an Access to Information bill was being drafted and would be introduced to its lower house, the House of Keys, in as part of the 2008-09 legislative programme.

MP: Publishing expenses receipts could be ‘grubby and salacious’

Posted by Martin Stabe on 23 May 2008 at 12:36
Tags: Freedom of Information, National Newspapers, Regional Newspapers

Conservative MP David MacLean, who last year sponsored a controversial private member’s bill to exempt Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act, is interviewed today in the Cumberland News.

Asked whether MPs’ shouldn’t be more accountable to the electorate about how they spend their allowances, MacLean said: “Yes, but not to that extent. It becomes grubby and salacious. People do have a right to know ‘Did I use taxpayers’ money improperly?’ but getting down to individual receipt items to see where you bought your pillowcases is just a bit silly. If we publish whether we bought pizza or fish and chips it won’t improve our standing.”

Maclean’s comments come on the day when receipts for 14 past and present MPs expenses are expected to be published following a High Court victory by three journalists who had requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to the Telegraph, the Commons members Estimate Committee has also agreed to publish about 1 million receipts covering claims from all 646 MPs.

Police PR spending up 13 per cent, FOI survey reveals

Posted by Martin Stabe on 23 May 2008 at 09:45
Tags: Broadcast, Freedom of Information, Journalism, Law, Magazines, National Newspapers, New Media, PR, Regional Newspapers

Police forces are spending nearly £40 million a year on public relations, a figure that has gone up 13 per cent over the past two years.

The figures where compiled by using Freedom of Information Act requests to all police forces in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Four forces failed to reply.

Heather Brooke, one of the journalists who last week won the high court vicotry forcing Parliament to hand over details of MPs’ expenses, supervised the three-month investigation.

In analysis piece run with the report, she writes: “Many forces now see it as their business not just to cut crime but to manage the public’s perception of crime. This is wrong. The police are paid to do one job: enforce the law. They have no business being in the PR racket.”

The Times notes concerns that as part of their PR efforts, some police forces are withholding information about serious crime in an effort to manipulate the news agenda.

Once of the police forces mentioned in the Times report is Northumbria Police, which has increased its PR spend by 55 per cent in two years. Freelance journalist Nigel Green has lodged an official complaint after finding that the force had failed to release details of many crimes to the media.

Update: A complete spreadsheet of the police spending figures is available on the website of freelance James Ball, who wrote the story (and who is a a frequent contributor to Press Gazette).

A million receipts to be released after MPs lose FoI appeal

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 20 May 2008 at 08:52
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism, National Newspapers

MPs are to be forced to publish details of more than a million receipts for shopping bills and other items following last week’s victory for journalists in a Freedom of Information appeal at the High Court.

The Daily Telegraph reports that details of everything from mortgage repayments to food bills will be released to the three journalists who made the original request by 4pm on Friday.

Heather Brooke welcomes MP expenses FoI victory

Posted by Paul McNally on 17 May 2008 at 10:11
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism, Law

Journalist and freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke has welcomed this week’s High Court freedom of information ruling that the expenses details for 14 MPs should be disclosed.

Brooke, who had worked with the Sunday Telegraph’s Ben Leapman and the Sunday Times’s Jonathan Ungoed-Thomas, said the lengthy legal battle had “severely damaged public trust in parliament”.

“This ruling will wrest control from the old boys’ club and put it back where it belongs – with the constituents,” she said.

“What’s disappointing is that it took three years of concerted effort to counter the relentless opposition from the House of Commons and speaker Michael Martin, who used taxpayer money throughout to block [it].”

Writing on her blog, she adds: “It’s not right that a citizen is forced to fight so hard for such a basic level of democratic accountability from our elected representatives.”

According to the FT, the Commons has already spent in the region of £100,000 on its legal attempt to block the disclosure, and is considering whether it should launch an eleventh-hour appeal.

The Sunday Times, meanwhile, says some of the expenses documents at the centre of last week’s FoI ruling have already been shredded.

Tony Blair’s claim forms, itemising his household expenses, were destroyed by mistake, with Westminster officials unaware that they were the subject of an ongoing legal challenge, the paper claims.

Video: David Cameron at the British Press Awards

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 10 April 2008 at 11:37
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism, National Newspapers

Conservative Leader David Cameron addressed journalists at the British Press Awards on Tuesday night.

Speaking later to Press Gazette, Cameron pledged his support for media self-regulation and plans to expand the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.

The full interview appears in this week’s issue of Press Gazette, which is out today.

MPs’ expenses unearthed after FoI victory

Posted by Paul McNally on 5 April 2008 at 15:16
Tags: Freedom of Information

Prime minister Gordon Brown charged a Sky Sports subscription and his TV licence fee to expenses, newly released data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act has revealed.

The disclosure comes after MPs decided not to appeal against the Information Commissioner’s ruling that expense details for about a dozen key politicians should be made public.

A separate case, which could see all MPs’ expenses made public, is currently before the High Court.

US state legislature shows the way for Parliamentary transparency

Posted by Martin Stabe on 10 March 2008 at 09:22
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism

Writing int he Mail on Sunday, Freedom of Information campaigner Heather Brooke contrasts the expenses regime in Parliament with that of the Washington state legislature, which she covered 15 years ago as a young reporter in the United States: (more…)

Council PR chief: public sector must reject journalists’ ‘pointless muck-raking’ with FOI

Posted by Martin Stabe on 3 March 2008 at 13:12
Tags: Freedom of Information, Regional Newspapers

The PR chief of a London borough council has argued that public sector press officers must defend themselves against journalists’ “pointless muck-raking” with Freedom of Information requests, PR Week reports.

“Aspiring reporters are too often spellbound by what they see as inside information that is little more than gossip and conspiracy theories,” Brent Council director of communications Toni McConville said after winning an appeal to the Information Commissioner over a request filed by the Willesden & Brent Times, which had been seeking personal information about two former council employees.

Leapman: Expenses ruling ‘could end careers’ in Commons but delays shows weakness of FOI

Posted by Martin Stabe on 3 March 2008 at 09:13
Tags: Freedom of Information

Ben Leapman of the Sunday Telegraph is celebrating the Information Tribunal case that saw him — along with fellow journalists Jon Ungoed-Thomas of the Sunday Times and freelance Heather Brooke — win a landmark ruling that MPs’ second-home expenses must be disclosed.

The ruling, Leapman wrote in yesterday’s paper, “could end a few careers” at Westminster.

The piece charts the progress of Leapman’s request from 2005, when he first requested six MPs’ claims for Additional Costs Allowance through the appeals process until last week’s ruling.

Leapman writes: “The three-year delay exposes a wider weakness in Freedom of Information. Public officials can push issues into the long grass by withholding documents that ought to be released. At Westminster, there is talk of scrapping allowances and giving MPs a big pay rise to compensate. If this is meant to restore public confidence, I do not think it will work.”

In a leader, the paper adds that: “The only people to benefit from continued secrecy are corrupt MPs who are cheating on their expenses. It is our money, not theirs, and we have the right to know that it is not being misused.”

Broadcaster reveals salary on air during debate with MP

Posted by Martin Stabe on 25 February 2008 at 06:30
Tags: BBC, Freedom of Information

Freelance Good Morning Ulster presenter Conor Bradford has revealed his BBC pay live on air during a discussion with an MP, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

“Look, I earn £29,000 a year for my Good Morning Ulster contract,” Bradford said after DUP MP Gregory Campbell had jibing him about the BBC’s refusal to disclose presenter’s pay.

Journalists’ salaries have become a talking point in Northern Ireland politics in recent weeks after Campbell accused the BBC of hypocrisy for questioning the expenses of MPs and Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly — including his own — while withholding its own salaries and expenses under the Freedom of Information Act.

(more…)

Telegraph uses FoI to reveal growing booze crime trend

Posted by Paul McNally on 24 February 2008 at 06:07
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism

The Daily Telegraph has used the Freedom of Information Act to find out the number of alcohol-related crimes committed in each of the 43 police force regions in England and Wales.

Its investigation - which comes three days before a Government report on the effects of relaxed licensing is published - revealed a 1,500 per cent increase in alcohol-fuelled crimes in Humberside, and 300 per cent increases in Derbyshire and Durham.

MoD refuses 5 percent of journalists’ FOI requests

Posted by Martin Stabe on 20 February 2008 at 11:40
Tags: Freedom of Information, Journalism

Journalists’ Freedom of Information Act requests to the Ministry of Defense were at least partially answered in 37 per cent of cases, but refused 5.6 per cent of cases in full since the Act came into force in 2005.

Requests from individuals who identified themselves to the MoD as members of the media accounted for 1 per cent of requests that the MoD refused in full, more than those from members of Parliament, businesses or academics.

However, media requesters also accounted for more successful requests than any of the other groups, at 6.6 per cent of all requests answered in full or in part.

The figures were revealed this week by junior defense minister Derek Twigg in response to a Parliamentary question.

Nationalised Northern Rock will not be subject to FOI requests

Posted by Patrick Smith on 20 February 2008 at 11:37
Tags: BBC, Freedom of Information

The stricken bank Northen Rock may be open for business while in public ownership - but it’s not going to be open to Freedom of Information Act requests.

(more…)

BBC Northern Ireland’s £800-a-day taxi bill

Posted by Martin Stabe on 15 February 2008 at 06:00
Tags: BBC, Freedom of Information

The FOI disclosures just keep on coming from BBC Northern Ireland.

Now the News Letter of Belfast reports that BBC Northern Ireland spends £800 a day on taxis in 2004-5.

The £290,000 annual taxi bill emerged following a ruling by the Information Commissioner. A more up-to-date disclosure of taxi expenditure is subject to another FOI request, the paper says.

BBC discloses highest-paid staffer following FOI ruling

Posted by Martin Stabe on 14 February 2008 at 15:42
Tags: BBC, Freedom of Information

Controller Anna Carragher was the BBC’s highest paid employee in Northern Ireland in 2005, the corporation has confirmed.

Carragher was paid between £100,000 and £131,000 as the senior editorial figure in Northern Ireland nearly three years ago, when a Freedom of Information request was made, the BBC disclosed.

The disclosure comes after the Information Commissioner ruled this week that the BBC should answer the FOI request, which asked for the identity of its highest-paid member of staff in Northern Ireland.

(more…)