Victory

"The government has also published its response to the consultation on extending the Freedom of Information Act. The government's response reflects the considerable support for extending the Act. A further consultation will now be undertaken with those proposed for inclusion within the scope of the Act: Academies, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)."

Source: Ministry of Justice

"The Government is attracted to bringing such utilities within the Act. While it does not propose to include utilities in the first section 5 order, it will carry out further consultation with the
bodies concerned"

My academies petition

Had to laugh at the suggestion someone made to the consultation that CFOI should be added!

Privy Council Orders tag cloud

medical chartered society institution engineers university further higher education scotland royal great britain reform leeds opticians city london institute physics united nations manchester science technology ministerial appointment alderney british burial child abduction custody church commissioners consular fees european communities extradition law general council guernsey jersey college oxford northern ireland order reference privy counsellor queen sark social security administration health service naval marine pay pensions proclamation justice management films coinage orders income corporation taxes national patents pharmacy designs universities cambridge wales association accountants actuaries veterinary surgeons poisons civil england ministers crown public company parliamentary swansea air aviation fund finance accountancy surveyors settlements medicine school forces broadcasting criminal academy appointments engineering pharmaceutical international organisations merchant shipping supplementary reading local government benevolent dentists professions birmingham sheffield architects inspections nursing hull marriages osteopaths chiropractors channel islands midwifery helena financial dealings counsellors island section tag cloud

Where is the data from? the data was released by the Privy Council Office under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (request made through WhatDoTheyKnow.com. The "OrderName" field gives the subject area of each order, this column was the initial data set. The words "Act", "Measure" etc and all numbers were removed from the initial data set. What is left is considered a reasonable illustration of what the Privy Council make orders about.

DWP is letting down people on benefits

The Department for Work and Pensions have no geographic numbers an that means benefit claimants an potential claimants will have to pay more to call them on 0845 numbers. This is especially unfair as a proportion of the calls are likely to relate to errors made by the Department.

I do welcome the fact that the number for crisis is an 0800 number but many people in real financial difficulties may be trying to call using mobiles and on some networks 0800 calls are very expensive. I would urge the DWP to ensure they can provide a geographic alternative to all non-geographic numbers to make life just a little easier for people who have lost their jobs during the recession.

Request for telephone numbers

ICO release Data Protection Register details

"...I am upholding the original decision, and we will not be supplying you with a copy of the full Register. Instead, as you are aware, you will be able to access it via our website.

However I fully understand the frustration expressed in your recent email as a result of our handling of your original request. In view of this I have decided to send you a file which includes the registration numbers of all organisations currently registered with us. In order to access the
organisations’ details you will need to cut and paste each registration number into the search facility on the Register, this will return the full details for that organisation."

I welcome this disclosure it is a small step towards increase transparency but I really don't see why they could not have released much more.

ICO response

Speaker Election Nomination Forms

Interesting FOI request to get the nominations forms for the Speaker Election.

Public want disclosure of royal finances

"62% of people want details of the royal family’s public spending to be fully available. "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6591257.ece

What price would you pay to let UK citizens know the law they are subject to?

The Privy Council has refused to provide me with a list of all the Orders of the Privy Council which are part of UK law. I was not even asking for the Orders themselves I just requested a list.

The Privy Council refused on cost grounds.

It would in theory be possible for me to construct my own list by:

(a) visiting the National Archives
(b) visiting the National Library
(c) pursuing my Freedom of Information request restricted to Orders from 1994 onwards

I will certainly be doing (c).

I think there are three general problems here with the British democratic system that need to be resolved:

(1) law is being made by unaccountable bodies and through the exercise of Royal Prerogative by-passing elected law-makers in the House of Commons

(2) the law is not being published in full and in an accessible form

(3) the Freedom of Information Act contains a cost exemption The limit is £600 for central government and Parliament and £450 for other public authorities. It sometimes feels like public authorities know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. There needs to be a mechanism to challenge the cost exemption where the public interests justifies the cost of disclosure.