Sir Humphrey, of Yes Minister fame, once said: “the public doesn’t know anything about wasting government money. We are the experts.” But he didn’t have FOI requests to think about. Every now and then since 2005, the public has glimpsed how “expertly” our cash is wasted.

Often wastage is due to incompetence but another way our political elite use public money is spending it on themselves. According to figures released to the Taxpayers Alliance, over 17,000 public sector workers have retired with pensions worth £33 000 annually. According to TPA calculations, that’s the equivalent of a £1 million pension pot in the private sector.

The Daily Telegraph reports: “four out of five private sector final salary schemes are closed to new members as companies consider them too expensive in an era of rising life expectancies. But around 5 million public sector workers still enjoy final salary pensions, many of them funded from general taxation.”

The Treasury told the Telegraph: “High-quality pension provision is a key part of the remuneration package of public servants, aimed at maintaining a high-quality public sector workforce. These pensions are fully costed and fully affordable.”

Translation: “the public sector plays by its own rules, thank you very much”. Sir Humphrey couldn’t have said it better himself. It’s only by continuing to press for government accountability that this elitist, “Yes Minister” culture can be altered.

It seems that the officers at North Wales Police were having problems with their petrol. No matter how many times they put it into their diesel engines, their cars wouldn’t run on the stuff.

So in 2006, reports Walesonline.co.uk, the force introduced a bright yellow filler cap cover marked with the word “diesel”. The flap is said to be located so that it must be moved in order to get the fuel-pump nozzle into the car.

An FOI request revealed that since the introduction of this measure, officers went on to make the same mistake 26 times. Over the last year, the cost to the taxpayer has been nearly £3000.

The ICO issued a “formal practice recommendation” to the The Department for Communities and Local Government following delays of up to 400 days for processing freedom of information requests. All freedom of information act requests should be responded to within 20 working days unless special circumstances apply.

The ICO recommendation says:

In issuing this practice recommendation, the Commissioner recognises the assurances already made by the Department. However he considers that, to date, it has failed to demonstrate an appropriate level of commitment to improvement and failed to offer acceptable explanations for the performance issues. Furthermore, the extent of the internal delays are so significant that the Commissioner wishes to make them a matter of public record, in keeping with his general functions to disseminate information on the operation of the Act under section 47 (2). In the Commissioner’s view, the public should be made aware that delays of this nature are not acceptable.”

You can read the whole recommendation here and the Local Government Chronicle’s write up here.
It’ll be interesting to see if the ICO’s report makes any difference to the DCLG’s FOI performance.

I’m actually a dual UK/US citizen but today I feel extremely proud to be an American. This is what real democracy is all about. Barack Obama says it best:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

He highlighted that his candidacy was not cooked up by political insiders (as happens in the UK) but was a movement fuelled by the will of the common people. And it was the people he thanked in his victory speech. I love that optimistic belief that people can and do make a difference if they are determined in their dreams. It’s for this reason I wrote ‘Your Right to Know’, it’s for this reason I took MPs to the High Court to get them to be accountable directly to their constituents. It’s for this reason that we all have a chance at making the UK a more transparent and democratic country.

So on this historic day for democracy why not send in a freedom of information request? You can begin putting pressure on your local officials to stop being so secretive and elitist and start sharing information and power with the citizens. It may not be a call to arms but at least it should prompt you to write a letter.

Make your request at www.whatdotheyknow.com