"A proposal to allow London boroughs to impose their own food hygiene system on restaurants, pubs, bars and other catering establishments in the city has been withdrawn. … Following pressure from trade bodies"

The Metropolitan Police may not be releasing crime data, but that’s not stopping some people from developing UK crime maps.

"It is understood [mayor Boris] Johnson is trying to get round the setback [to his crime mapping plan] by tailoring the scheme to satisfy the [infomration commissoner]".

"MPs have been granted a vote on whether they should be allowed to keep their home addresses secret to protect their privacy and security."

"Restaurants run by some of Britain’s largest food chains are failing to meet basic legal hygiene standards … The Independent analysed the star rating of 1,270 outlets run by 10 of Britain’s best-known restaurant chains."

"The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has written to all chief executives of local authorities, NHS trusts, police agencies and thousands of other organisations, urging them to disclose a range of information "as a matter of routine"."

James Ball: "People who spend time and money fighting to get important documents released under the Freedom of Information Act deserve their scoops"

"All that the High Court did last week was rule that once an Act has been passed, MPs can’t exempt themselves from it. They must comply with the Freedom of Information Act however embarrassing that is for them."

Heather Brooke on winning her FOI case: "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."

A new site that compiles public record data about crime and anti-social behaviour at particular locations - for a fee. Targeted at house buyers, but would obviously be a good hyperlocal news product as well.

"The two objectives: (1) Get more datasets for EveryBlock so it can be a better Web site (2) Convince governments to share that data with everyone, not just us"

Martin Rosenbaum: "it looks like we are going to find out more about this, following an important decision issued today by the Information Tribunal."

FOI fees blamed as requests in Ireland drop sharply in two years.

Charles Arthur: "The task is simply this: find out how much your local council is paying to the Ordnance Survey (OS), Britain’s mapping agency, for its mapping services. All it takes is a little FOIA request"