Information Commissioner & Tribunal Decisions courses

The next 'Information Commissioner & Tribunal Decisions' courses which the Campaign for Freedom of Information runs will be in London on 30 November 2009 and Birmingham on 3 December 2009.

The courses, which are aimed at those with a good working knowledge of the legislation, highlight key developments in the way the exemptions, the public interest test and the legislation's procedural requirements are being interpreted.

Details on how to book a place will be available from the Campaign's website shortly. Please email us if you would like to be notified when these become available.

New ICO guidance

The Information Commissioner's Office has published the following new pieces of guidance:

Section 17 - Refusing a request (Version 1, 1 July 2009)

Section 17 - Writing a refusal notice (Version 1, 1 July 2009)

Enterprise Act 2002 and Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Version 1, 1 July 2009)

FOI Disclosure Stories 29 June - 5 July 2009

Workers protest over job cuts as colleges waste millions on consultants and agency staff - UNISON 03/07/09
“New figures revealing that £51,213,507 has been spent on expensive agency staff and paying consultant fees by further education colleges has been slammed by UNISON and UCU as a waste of money… Seventy nine colleges in England that had refused to give staff earning less than £17,000 an agreed pay increase of £550 in 2008/09, or a pay offer of 3.2, were targeted in the survey. 

And the results show that those employers spent a total of £29,533,507 on agency workers and £21,680,000 on consultants last year, bringing it to a massive £51,213,507.”

Transport for London in spending row over £2,761-a-day consultants - Guardian Unlimited 02/07/09
“Transport for London spent more than £14m on consultants in just one department over a two-year period, it emerged today. The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union used a freedom of information request to unearth figures showing TfL is paying up to £2,761 a day per consultant in its congestion charging and traffic enforcement department.”

UK's bloody Afghan legacy - Channel 4 01/07/09
“The British Army has paid out compensation for, or is in the process of investigating the deaths of, at least 104 civilians killed in clashes in Helmand in just 18 months, Channel 4 News can reveal. A freedom of information request by this programme has revealed a large number of claims by Afghan civilians against British forces in one of the most violent regions of Afghanistan, in which UK forces have been the main Nato force for five years.”

Darzi centre funding dwarfs GMS cash - Pulse 30/06/09
“Our investigation shows funding per patient at GP-led health centres is almost three times as high on average, and in some cases as much as seven times as high, as at GMS practices. Some 25 PCTs released details of contracts under the Freedom of Information Act, although many more refused, claiming the release of figures would prejudice future tendering processes. Trusts are paying an average of £180.92 per registered patient to GP-led health centres in their first year, far outstripping estimated average funding of £63.24 per patient for GMS and £78.63 for PMS contracts.”

Are private prisons working? - Channel 4 29/06/09
“Britain's private prisons are performing worse than those run by the state, according to data obtained under the freedom of information act by More4 News. The findings, based on the overall performances of 132 prisons in England and Wales, appear to undermine claims by government that private prisons are raising the standards for over 80,000 prisoners held across both the state and private-run sectors.

 Separate figures from the probation officer ombudsman, also released under an FOI, show nearly double the number of prisoner complaints are upheld in private prisons as they are in state-run institutions.”

Danger of airplanes' birdstrike - The Mirror 29/06/09
“Nearly two aircraft a week are involved in potentially fatal collisions with birds, safety statistics reveal. Pilots have been forced to issue Mayday alerts or make emergency landings as their jet engines dangerously lost power after a birdstrike, the Civil Aviation Authority said… In Britain, the CAA dossier reveals 100 birdstrike incidents last year.”

Regional

4,000 noise complaints in Notts in one year - Nottingham Evening Post 01/07/09
“There have been more than 4,000 complaints about noise pollution in Notts in the last year. The figures were released by Rockwool insulation company after a Freedom of Information Act request. Of the 4,414 complaints, 2,038 were in the city council boundary.”

More than 250 Met officers facing racism allegations - This is London 01/07/09
“A total of 255 Metropolitan police officers are facing accusations of racism, according to new figures. Some 238 complaints were submitted by members of the public and a further 17 involve internal allegations of misconduct. The figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act record the number of complaints of racism made against officers in individual boroughs and police squads.”

Scotland

Anger at 'soft' jail terms for serious attacks - The Scotsman 04/07/09
“The Scottish Government has been accused of presiding over a ‘soft touch’ justice system after it emerged that thugs convicted of attempted murder and serious assault had been given prison sentences of less than six months. New statistics – released under Freedom of Information rules – reveal that since 2003-4, 335 of those found guilty of serious assault were given sentences of less than 182 days. A further three people convicted of attempted murder were also given terms of less than six months.”

ICO Annual Report 2008-09

The Information Commissioner's Office has published the Annual Report for 2008/09:

Foreword by Richard Thomas:
Transparency and openness have become part of the standard political vocabulary. The public's right to know has become a success story. Wider debates are underway about democratic renewal, public engagement and constitutional reform. Freedom of information, a somewhat fragile flower for most of its lifetime with few vocal friends in Westminster and Whitehall, is now a permanent fixture and a core part of the fabric of public life. The talk now is of extending the legislation.
...
The first four years have involved a massive learning curve for everyone. Many transitional problems have been caused as public bodies have resisted disclosure of material which had been written without an expectation that it could reach the public domain.

As we move into a more mature business-as-usual phase, public sector culture must continue to shift in favour of openness being the norm. There is no need to wait for requests. These can be sporadic, burdensome and disruptive. I have frequently advocated the 'crown jewels' approach - public bodies need to show they recognise the imperative of accountability (and make life easier for themselves) by identifying what absolutely has to be kept secret and the proactively publishing other official information as a matter of routine.
...
It is not easy (and anyway too soon) to measure freedom of information achievements by reference to rationales of trust, confidence, accountability, improved decision-making or reduced impropriety. But it can be said that the impact on the general public appears to have been substantial. Our annual survey shows marked increases in public attitudes towards the benefits of access to information held by public authorities. Those agreeing that freedom of information "increases knowledge of what public authorities do" rose from 54% in 2004 to 84% in 2008. Those agreeing that it "increases confidence in public authorities" went up from 51% to 75%.

The annual report, annual report summary and the slides from the launch are available here.

Laws that slip in the back door

Telegraph
6 Jul 2009

Labour's methods of law-making have made parliamentary debate and openness impossible, argues Philip Johnston.
...
Oddly enough, the one measure that has begun to redress the balance is the one that Labour dragged its heels about introducing: the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. While this by no means works perfectly – not least because it is still the devil's own job to extract information from the state or its agencies that should as a matter of course be put in the public domain – it is none the less available to the Press and public if they have the patience and wherewithal to keep pounding away. It was the diligence of journalists and campaigners seeking information about MPs' expenses under the FOI Act that finally brought Westminster's dirty secret into the light.

When the Act came into force in 2005 - five years after it was actually passed – Lord Falconer, then Lord Chancellor, hailed it as "a constitutional change of great significance… a presumption of openness… a radical and permanent change in the relationship between the citizen and government. Fears that the need-to-know culture would still triumph have not been realised."

In truth, of course, the Government had hoped it would not work quite that way and would, as Hamlet said, be more honoured in the breach than the observance. But it has allowed us, if not exactly to storm the citadels of governance, at least to peep through the keyhole to see a bit of what is going on. As Francis Bacon said, knowledge is power and a country is less free if it is all in the hands of the state. Public bodies should be legally obliged to place in the public domain every piece of physical or electronic information that they generate, unless there are overwhelming reasons of privacy or national security. That would be an easy, practical and straightforward way to underpin press freedom and the public's right to know.

Full article here.

"Severe delays" in investigating freedom of information complaints "undermining" FOI Act

Press release 3 July 2009
Campaign for Freedom of Information

Long delays by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in investigating freedom of information complaints are undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act, according to a new report by the Campaign for Freedom of Information.

The report analyses nearly 500 formal decision notices issued by the ICO in the 18 months to 31 March 2009. The decisions were made under the FOI Act and the associated Environmental Information Regulations. It finds that -

• on average it took 19.7 months from the date of a complaint to the ICO to the date on which the ICO’s decision on the complaint was issued
• in 46% of cases it took between 1 and 2 years from complaint to decision
• a quarter of formal decisions took between 2 and 3 years while 5% of cases (23 complaints) took more than 3 years
• the longest case took 3 years and 10 and a half months
• only 24% of decisions were issued within 12 months of the complaint.
  

The report also found that on average the ICO’s investigation into a complaint did not begin until 8 months after the complaint had been received. In 28% of cases, there was a delay of more than a year before the investigation began and 19 cases waited more than 18 months. One complaint had been with the ICO for 22 months before the investigation began.

Read the full press release.

The report published today is in 2 parts, a report plus a table providing data on all 493 decision notices considered in the study:

1) Delays in Investigating Freedom of Information Complaints Report (pdf)

2) Table of decision notices 1.10.07 to 31.3.09 (pdf)

UK Government will not sign World's First Treaty on Access to Information

Press release from Access Info Europe and the Campaign for Freedom of Information
29 June 2009

Freedom of Information campaign groups today criticised the UK Government’s decision not to sign the world’s first binding treaty on access to official information. Despite the Prime Minister’s recent statement promising greater freedom of information , the Government has confirmed it will not currently sign the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents.

The Campaign for Freedom of Information and Access Info Europe said there would be real benefits if the UK signed the Convention. First, it would encourage European countries with no or weak access to information laws to introduce effective legislation. Second, it would make it more difficult for any government in the UK to weaken the UK FOI Act.

“We’re concerned that one possible reason behind the Government’s decision is that it intends to introduce new exemptions to our FOI Act, which may not be compatible with the Convention. The Prime Minister recently announced that the Government would introduce two new exemptions to the Act for cabinet documents and communications with members of the Royal Family. In both cases the information would be excluded from the scope of the FOI Act altogether for 20 years, an extremely retrograde step” said Katherine Gundersen of the Campaign for Freedom of Information.

On 24 June the UK Government stated that it “does not intend to sign the Convention at this stage” adding that it “does not rule out signing in the future”. An official statement from the Ministry of Justice observed that “The UK's Freedom of Information legislation has been a success story, providing a regime for freedom of information that is among the most open and rigorous in the world. It already goes further than the standards of the Convention in a number of areas.”

“This is clearly a spurious argument, because nothing stops any country having a higher standard than the Convention. The reluctance to sign the treaty sets a bad example for the new democracies of central and eastern Europe”, said Helen Darbishire of Access Info Europe.

Read the full press release here.
Convention on Access to Official Documents
Explanatory Report to the Convention

FOI Disclosure Stories 22 - 28 June 2009

Top secret plans revealed - The Times 26/06/09
“Britain considered dropping millions of poisoned darts on German troops in the final stages of the Second World War, secret files made public have revealed. Created by British and Canadian scientists, the darts could have been packed into bombs and released from the air with the potential to kill or incapacitate anyone within 10,000 sq yds. Documents released by the National Archives under the Freedom of Information Act include letters and notes collected over four years that demonstrate how close the Government came to deploying the deadly darts.”

CBT: Roads programme as much as £3.9bn over budget - CNplus.co.uk 25/06/09
“The Highways Agency’s road building programme is ‘significantly over budget’, with three quarters of the roads completed in the past year more expensive than expected. According to Government figures obtained under Freedom of Information by the Campaign for Better Transport, the agency’s programme – including all roads finished in the past 12 months, those under construction, and those in the planning stages – could be as much as £3.9 billion over budget.”

Top BBC bosses' expenses revealed - BBC 25/06/09
“BBC director general Mark Thompson claimed more than £2,000 when he cut short his holiday to deal with the row over the Ross/Brand lewd calls in 2008. The figure was one of a number of details to emerge after the expenses of some top BBC executives were published. The corporation revealed the figures in response to Freedom of Information requests and pressure for more clarity. The expenses and salaries of the BBC's 50 top-earning managers were also revealed on the website on Thursday.”

Taser mania! Police zap sheep, bulls, dogs ... even themselves - The Daily Mail 23/05/09
“Blundering police have turned their Tasers on stray dogs, runaway sheep and even accidentally on themselves, it was revealed yesterday. Figures released under freedom of information laws highlight a catalogue of errors by officers armed with the 50,000-volt stun guns. In the most serious case, a firearms officer shot a frail 89-yearold man after he threatened to kill himself.”

Scotland

Oil depots fail blaze safety checks - The Scotsman 28/06/09
“Serious failings in safety measures meant to reduce the risk of major explosions at Scotland's fuel oil depots have been uncovered by government inspectors. Inspectors from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) discovered that none of the nation's nine oil depots ‘fully complied with safety recommendations made after the catastrophic explosion and fire at the Buncefield fuel depot in Hertfordshire in 2005. The inspection reports, obtained under Freedom of Information rules by Scotland on Sunday, reveal that inadequate safety measures at several depots mean there is a ‘high’ risk of a major environmental accident if a leak occurs.”

Cameron plans to open up information and set public data free

Conservative leader David Cameron announced the following plans to open up information in a speech at Imperial College on 25 June 2009:

INFORMATION FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

We have already announced some of the ways in which we will put information - and thereby power - in people's hands.

We will publish every item of government spending over £25,000.

It will all be there for an army of armchair auditors to go through, line by line, pound by pound, to hold wasteful government to account.

We will require the publication of crime data online in an open way so that communities can build their own crime maps, see what crimes are being committed, where and at what time and hold their local police to account if they're not doing something about it. And we will require all local councils to publish information like meeting minutes and local service data in a standardised format.

This will give people the power to hold local government to account, and to develop new public services like a local version of TheyWorkForYou, or Bebo applications that tell teenagers when the local sports centre is open as well as the power to see which councils are providing the best value for money, so residents can demand the same from their own. But today we're announcing further steps towards true freedom of information.

SETTING DATA FREE

In Britain today, there are over 100,000 public bodies producing a huge amount of information.

This ranges from school league tables to train timetables; from health outcomes to public sector job vacancies. Most of this information is kept locked up by the state. And what is published is mostly released in formats that mean the information can't be searched or used with other applications, like online maps. his stands in the way of accountability.

Let me give you just two examples.

Today, many central government and quango job adverts are placed in a select few newspapers.

Some national, some regional. Some daily, some weekly.

But all of them in a variety of different publications - meaning it's almost impossible to find out how many vacancies there are across the public sector, what kind of salaries are being offered, how these vary from public sector body to public sector body and whether functions are being duplicated.

Remember this is your money being put forward to give someone a job - and you have little way of finding out why, what for and for how much.

Now imagine if they were all published online and in a standardised way. Not only could you find out about vacancies for yourself, you could cross-reference what jobs are on offer and make sure your money is being put to proper use. Or what about patient outcomes in the NHS?

Some of the most important information you'll ever need to know, how long your Dad will survive if he gets cancer, your chances of a good life if you have a stroke, all this is out of your hands.

Now, again, imagine if this information was in your hands. You'd be able to compare your local hospital with others, and do something about it if it wasn't good enough.

Choose another hospital. Voice your complaint to a patient group. Make change happen.
All this data which would help people in this country hold the powerful to account - it's all locked away in some vault. And it's only getting worse.

Next week Ed Balls will publish proposals for a new report card, replacing league tables. That will reduce the amount of information being published, and reduce parent power to hold their school to account.

We're going to set this data free. In the first year of the next Conservative Government, we will find the most useful information in twenty different areas ranging from information about the NHS to information about schools and road traffic and publish it so people can use it.

This information will be published proactively and regularly - and in a standardised format so that it can be 'mashed up' and interacted with.

What's more, because there is no complete list that can tell us exactly what data the government collects, we will create a new 'right to data' so that further datasets can be requested by the public.

By harnessing the wisdom of the crowd, we can find out what information individuals think will be important in holding the state to account.

And to avoid bureaucrats blocking these requests, we will introduce a rule that any request will be successful unless it can be proved that it would lead to overwhelming costs or demonstrable personal privacy or national security concerns.

If we are serious about helping people exert more power over the state, we need to give them the information to do it. And as part of that process, we will review the role of the Information Commissioner to make sure that it is designed to maximise political accountability in our country.

Read the full speech here.

Freedom of Information Annual Report 2008

The Ministry of Justice has published the Annual Report on the operation of the FOI Act in Central Government 2008:

Foreword
More than four years have passed since the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, marking a step change in openness and transparency in public bodies. The Act has opened up the internal workings of government and public authorities, making them more accountable than ever before and fundamentally changing the relationship between the citizen and the state.
...
the Government need to continue to build on the culture change already achieved to ensure that freedom of information keeps pace. I am confident that the Freedom of Information Act has already brought about a permanent change in culture and will continue to have a positive and profound effect on the United Kingdom for many years to come.
Rt Hon Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice.

Some of the most interesting things are:

• Monitored bodies received 34,950 "non-routine" FOI & EIR requests - 6% more than 2007
• Departments of State received 19,175 requests- 13% more than 2007.
• 82% of requests received a substantive response within the standard 20 working day deadline. However, for Departments of State this figure was 76%.
• Departments of State "were more than twice as likely to use the permitted extension of the 20-day deadline to allow for consideration of the balance of the public interest."
• 57% of public interest extensions were completed in 20 working days or less, while 21% took longer than 40 working days.
  
• Of the "resolvable" requests, 60% were granted in full, 13% were withheld in part, 21% were withheld in full and 5% had not received a substantive response at the time of monitoring.
• Monitored bodies received 959 internal reviews on the grounds that some or all of the requested information was withheld. This is slightly higher than the 857 received in 2007.
  
• The initial handling of the request under review was upheld fully in 76% of cases. Only 8% upheld the requester's complaint in full.
  
• 38% of internal reviews took 20 working days or less, while 30% took between 21 and 40 working days. 16% took longer than 60 working days.
  
• There were 153 appeal to the ICO relating to the refusal if information requests by monitored bodies, a fall compared to the 222 in 2007.
  
• "Reflecting growing FOI expertise across central government, the Clearing House...changed its referral procedures to focus only on the most complex and challenging cases, resulting in a significant drop in the number of referrals".
  

Download the report here.

Information Tribunal User Group minutes

The minutes from the meeting of the Information Tribunal user group on 17 March 2009 are now available here.