A journalist who attended my NUJ course wrote in to tell me of his FOI experience. Malcolm Prior sent FOI requests to 41 councils and the resulting stories are running on the BBC News website, BBC South Today and local radio stations:

Council mast blunders uncovered – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4838152.stm

Eastleigh case study – Nurse fights on against mast blunder – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4840670.stm – and a full list of where the masts are – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4836396.stm

Malcolm said: “What’s amazing is how many councils wait right until the end of the 20 days to palm you off with a wrong or inaccurate answer. Luckily in some cases I already knew of a couple of examples, so I could point out that they had not checked their records properly. I am considering putting in complaints about a couple of them, which proved very resistant to providing the info.”

MP Norman Baker asked for the latest figures on the Information Commissioner’s backlog. It is now running at 1,373 cases. Of the 1,196 cases closed, only 59 resulted in an order of disclosure. The Commissioner ruled much more often against the complainant with 696 refusals. Many of the cases are being resolved informally (417), which means the vast majority of people are none the wiser about what has been refused or disclosed. And some of these ‘resolved’ cases are only closed because the Commissioner has taken so long to investigate the case (sometimes more than a year) that the public authority has already disclosed the contested material.

Written Answers – Appeals to the Information Commissioner
Norman Baker (Lewes, LDem): To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals have been received by the Information Commissioner in each month since the coming into force of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and in each month how many have (a) been determined and allowed in whole, (b) been determined and allowed in part, (c) been determined and refused and (d) not yet been determined.
Harriet Harman: The answer to this question is set out in the two following tables: (1) Number of cases received per month and number of cases yet to be determined per month; (2) Number and status of cases closed by month of receipt and information on cases which have been closed by informal resolution.

Please click on here to view the tables in their correct format.
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Highlights – The National Archives has received 171 requests for access to information contained in the 1911 census returns, and 14 appeals from inquirers who have been denied access to this information.

27 February 2006
Written Answers – Trade & Industry
Peter Law (Blaenau Gwent, Ind): If the Minister for Trade and Industry will list the freedom of information requests made since 1 January 2005 concerning information on (a) energy policy, (b) renewable energy and (c) nuclear energy; and whether the request was (i) fully complied with, (ii) partially answered and (iii) refused in each case.
Alan Johnson (Secretary of State, DTI): Since 1 January 2005, the Department has received in total 88 energy related Freedom of Information Act requests. In broad terms: (a) 18 related to energy policy; (b) 22 renewable energy and (c) 48 nuclear energy. Some requests were a combination of these categories. Of these requests, 39 were released in full; 12 were partial release of information and 23 information was withheld. There are two requests that are still being processed and in the case of a further 12 requests no information was found. A full list of the document will be placed in the Libraries of the House. (NB – the Libraries of the House are not accessible to the general public! These documents should be placed on the DTI’s disclosure log online.)

Written Answers – DTI
As if reading my mind Peter Law asks: What criteria are used to judge whether information released to applicants in response to freedom of information (FOI) requests is of wider public interest and should be included on the FOI pages of his Department’s website.
Alan Johnson: Information released to applicants under the Freedom of Information Act is considered for publication on the DTI’s web pages on a case-by-case basis as to whether it would be of wider public interest. My Department aims progressively to increase the amount of information it publishes from FOI requests on its website.
This publication is not a requirement of the FOI Act, but is in the spirit of freedom of information, and consistent with Whitehall best practice guidelines on publishing FOI responses that are likely to be of broad interest. (No surprise that the DTI has decided these FOI disclosure are not in the public interest and thus only available in the House library)
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Highlights this week: MP Bob Spink continues to ask departments if they have received any money to process FOI (answer, no). MPs are also pursuing the difficulties obtaining census data from 1911 and 1921 despite FOI.

14 February 2006
Written Answers – Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information Act
Bob Spink (Castle Point, Con): What total sum has been received by Department for Work & Pensions for the provision of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in its first year of operation.
Anne McGuire: Nil.

Written Answers – Health: Freedom of Information ActBob Spink (Castle Point, Con): Sum total received by Department of Health for the provision of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in its first year of operation.
Liam Byrne: The Department has not received any money for provision of
information under the *Freedom of Information* Act 2000, either in the
form of fees where the cost of processing a request would have exceeded
the appropriate limit or in payment for disbursements.
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