Category Archives: FOIA

BBC News: Local spending survey blocked by government

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"The BBC's attempts to collate this spending data largely avoided some obstacles placed in the way of alternative research being carried out by other media. ... Local Government Chronicle (LGC) was pursuing a similar survey. But it appears to have asked for what's called Revenue Account information ... DCLG instructed councils not to provide this data, on the grounds that it is intended for future publication by the Office for National Statistics."

Kent Online: Council webcasts aren’t a ratings winner

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"Audience figures for live webcasts of meetings at County Hall show many are being watched by fewer than 100 people. ... An analysis of data released to the KM Group under the Freedom of Information Act shows 5,766 people watched committee broadcasts as they happened between April 2010 to March this year. ... KCC spends about £20,000 a year streaming live meetings and making them available on its website to view later."

Press Gazette: Northumbria Police reveals one per cent of crimes

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A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said: “The introduction of a series of crime mapping systems, with the latest national system launched in January 2011, negates any suggestion that we withhold crimes from the public. The numbers, categories and locations of crime are available for everyone to see.”

Daily Mail: Royal Mail refuses to tell customer where its post boxes are

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Odd, especially since this data is already in the public domain: "A radio presenter who wrote to Royal Mail asking where his nearest post boxes were received an astonishing reply to say: 'Sorry, it's a secret'. ... The extraordinary two-page reply went on to claim that, as Royal Mail is a publicly-owned company, there was a 'significant public interest' in keeping the information private."

BBC Open Secrets: Balen Report: The case continues

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"Today was to have seen a Supreme Court hearing - and thus possibly the final stage - in the most long-running legal dispute involving freedom of information since the law came into force. However that case will not be happening this Wednesday, following the death last month of the man who initiated it and has been fighting it for several years, a London solicitor named Steven Sugar."

BBC Open Secrets: Council objections to publication of spending data

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"Ministers have given local authorities a deadline of the end of January to issue online the details of their expenditure on items over £500. The Communities and Local Government department maintains a timeline to display progress towards this. ... But documents obtained by the BBC under freedom of information show some councils have protested to the department about this demand from central government."

Daily Mail: Clegg pledges to expand freedom of information

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"Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told the Daily Mail ... hundreds more taxpayer-funded and charitable bodies should be subject to the transparency of the Freedom of Information Act, which currently applies only to most public authorities. ... Others expected to be dragged into the FOI net are the Local Government Association, the Advertising Standards Authority, Network Rail and even utility companies. ... [And] the length of time government records are kept secret is to be reduced from 30 years to 20, Nick Clegg will announce tomorrow."