Category: Freedom of Information

Isn’t coming back to work after a two week holiday a drag? One of the things I should have blogged about before the summer break was the discussion at launch of the Information Commissioner’s Annual Report about “mystery FOI shoppers”.  You should realise that ICO staff are already mystery FOI shoppers but in my view, it is only a matter of time before such activity extends to data protection. The Commissioner stated at the Annual Report launch that in the

In October 2007, in a speech on liberty at the University of Westminster, the Prime Minister announced that more “Freedom of Information is the right course because government belongs to the people, not the politicians” adding that “there is more we can do to change the culture and the workings of government to make it more open”. He continued: “Public information does not belong to Government; it belongs to the public on whose behalf government is conducted. Wherever possible that

The “Freedom of Information (Parliament and National Assembly for Wales) Order 2008 No. 1967” lies at the heart of the MPs’ expenses row. Watching the saga unfold (as many did with “shock and awe”), I thought I could not be the only person on the planet who wondered why the redaction was so heavy, even to the extent of blacking out details that hitherto had been made available under FOIA. A little research revealed that the above Statutory Instrument provides