Tagged: freedom of information
Dodging the Freedom of Information Act: Why the Big Society poses a big threat to journalists
For as long as the Coalition have been in government, we’ve heard talk about the ‘Big Society’. In its broadest sense, it’s supposed to be about empowering communities to do things for themselves.
Critics – public sector trade unions, for example – argue it’s a back-door way to reduce the size of the State, shifting as much as possible out of the public sector and either into the private sector or the very grey area of non-for-profit organisations and social enterprises.
For journalists – and, indeed, anyone with an interest in holding those who spend our money to account – there’s a danger that Big Society = Big threat to our right to know.
Put simply, at the moment, if a service currently provided within the public sector – and therefore subject to FOI – is moved into the private sector, or third-party organisation, there is no guarantee that FOI legislation will follow with it.
My understanding is that those at the very top of Government are reluctant to insist on the same levels of transparency should a service move out of direct public sector control because they fear it might be seen as ‘red tape’ which puts would-be providers off.
There is an argument which says that the organisation commissioning the service from the third party organisation – a council or primary care trust, for example – should still be able to provide all the information you might want, but we already know this isn’t the case.
Like this:
FOI Friday: Dirty hospitals, re-employed redundant council workers, lost dogs and drug warrants
A fortnightly round-up of FOI-based stories which could be followed up anywhere…
The secret past of would-be teachers < < < Sunday Sun
POSSESSING explosives, being drunk while in charge of a child, death by reckless driving and indecent assault on a girl . . these are just some of the serious criminal convictions would-be teachers in the North have under their belt.
Hundreds of potential teachers have been applying for classroom positions across the region despite holding a range of serious criminal convictions, the Sunday Sun can reveal.
Information released by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), after the Sunday Sun made a Freedom of Information Act request, revealed the scale of convictions clocked up by teachers applying for positions in the North.
Childhood drugs overdoses < < < Sunderland Echo
A SIX-YEAR-OLD was rushed to Sunderland Royal Hospital after overdosing on antidepressants.
The shocking revelation comes as new figures show three people a day are admitted to the city’s hospital after taking a drug overdose.
A total of 2,999 people were taken to A&E after overdosing on prescribed or non-prescribed medicine and drugs from December 2008 to December 2011.
The youngest was a six-year-old. A further five 12-year-olds were admitted after overdosing on painkillers, penicillin and anti-inflammatory drugs.
More council compensation claims < < < Sunday Mercury
A COUNCIL grave digger has been awarded £65,000 compensation – after he fell into a burial plot he was preparing.
The cemetery worker received the payout from Birmingham City Council (BCC) after he hurt his right knee in the incident.
He is one of several local authority employees who have claimed compensation after being injured at work.
In another case a school worker was handed £100,000 after slipping on food in a dinner hall.FOI Friday: Bad living conditions, school repair backlogs, teen drug dealers and the return of schoolyard compo
Revealing the findings of ‘neighbourhood renewal assessments’ – Stoke Sentinel
Here’s one which could run and run across the country. The Stoke Sentinel reports on the findings of a council ‘neighbourhood renewal assessment’ – the likes of which are carried out by councils all over the place.
A NEW report has painted a sobering picture of just how bad living conditions have become in the Portland Street area.
The report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, shows how much conditions have deteriorated at some of the houses.
It is based on surveys carried out at 274 properties, a mixture of private rented and owner-occupied homes, as part of the council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Assessment.
Repairs backlogs at schools – Coventry Telegraph
WARWICKSHIRE schools have a staggering £83 million backlog of repairs.
Warwickshire County Council bosses estimated the cost of getting all the county’s schools up to a reasonable standard of repair.
The figures were uncovered by the Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act.
The cost of clearing up after police warrants – South Wales Evening Post
I think there’s a better story in here other than the one the South Wales Evening Post has gone with. It reports on the £5k in compensation the police has paid out for repairs to properties which were damaged during ‘negative warrants’ – ie warrants which were executed but didn’t lead to an arrest or seizure of goods. That’s a good story – but looking at the breakdown of negative v positive warrants, almost half were negative. A better story?
120 ‘foreign objects’ removed from patients in Lincolnshire – Boston Standard
Here’s a curious story. FOI led to the Boston Standard to find out that 120 people had ‘foreign bodies’ removed from them in hospital, yet the hospital couldn’t say what those objects were. The Standard used information from elsewhere in the country to talk about the sorts of objects which could be involved.
Teenage drug dealers – Teesside Evening Gazette
SUSPECTED child drug dealers as young as 15 were among those arrested on Teesside, new figures have revealed.
Officers from Cleveland Police arrested 17 suspected child drug dealers last year.
Five were girls held over claims they were dealing cannabis, and six of the boys, including two 15-year-olds, were risking lengthy prison sentences after allegedly dealing in Class A drugs.
The findings were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Escapes from mental health units – Wigan Evening Post
10% of people admitted to mental health units in Wigan escape, according to the Wigan Evening Post.
Cost of overseas patients not paying up – Scarborough Evening News
This story stands out more because of the level of detail released than anything else:
SCARBOROUGH’S NHS Trust is owed more than £30,000 in hospital bills, racked up by overseas patients not entitled to free treatment.
The figures, obtained via a Freedom of Information request to Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust, show that since February 2009, £33,229.41 has either been written off or is currently being chased by the Trust.
The numbers include £10,297 that the trust is still chasing from a Syrian patient who underwent treatment in May 2010.
The highest amount written off was for £5,701, owed to them from a Thai patient who underwent treatment in August and September of 2009.
The books and CDs you aren’t borrowing from the library – Sunday Sun
Tomes such as Old Scottish Clockmakers 1453-1850 and Agrarian History of England and Wales Volume 5 have lined library shelves untouched for decades.
But surprisingly some popular names were also on our list, compiled from Freedom of Information requests by the Sunday Sun.
When it comes to music, in Northumberland, four copies of Coldplay’s album X&Y were only borrowed once last year, the same number as The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.
The return of an old favourite: Schoolyard payouts – Leicester Mercury
A schoolgirl who was burnt when baked beans were spilled on her could be in line for a council pay-out of up to £12,000.
The hot food was spilled on the youngster’s neck at a county council-run school. The authority has now set aside thousands of pounds to cover potential compensation and legal costs.
The incident is one of 63 compensation claims made for injuries sustained at county schools during the past four years, according to new figures. But, of the 29 cases dealt with to date, just five have resulted in a compensation pay-out.
The cost of council sick pay – Birmingham Post
Birmingham City Council spent £35 million on sick pay for staff last year.
And new figures have revealed employees in some departments are taking more than double the national average of days off ill.
The authority spent £34,856,713 on sick pay between January and December last year, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The council did not reveal the bill for paying agency staff to cover absences, meaning the total cost will be even higher.
FOI’s 7-year itch: If in doubt, blame the FOI Act (journalists included)
Based purely on personal experience, discussions about journalism with journalism academics tend to be either baffling or enlightening.
I’m not sure which category a Twitter discussion at the weekend with Prof Tim Luckhurst, former editor at the Scotsman and now of the Centre for Journalism at the University of Kent, falls into.
@davidhiggerson aka evidence that FoI is of rapidly diminishing value in the battle to hold power to account.—
Tim Luckhurst (@TCHL) April 01, 2012
Naturally, I disagreed. His next reply spanned three tweets:
@davidhiggerson Fair enough. Sadly it reveals little of true significance and gives reporters excuses not to pursue hard investigations.—
Tim Luckhurst (@TCHL) April 01, 2012
@davidhiggerson Hacking, Watergate and MPs expenses were not revealed through FoI. Nor were the names of war criminals living in the UK.—
Tim Luckhurst (@TCHL) April 01, 2012
@davidhiggerson FoI is often praised by newspaper groups that decline to fund expensive, meticulous reporting. We need sleuths not forms.—
Tim Luckhurst (@TCHL) April 01, 2012
And it wrapped up like this the next day:
@davidhiggerson Which reveals the obvious weakness of FoI. It is cheap. It is easy. It is not great journalism. Reporting works better.—
Tim Luckhurst (@TCHL) April 02, 2012
On one hand, I find the idea of a champion of journalism – which is what you’d expect a professor of journalism to be – playing down the importance of FOI baffling – but at the same time the misunderstanding of what FOI was meant to be for and how it is used enlightening. It’s also not the first time I’ve encountered these arguments.
First off, I’d argue that all 10 examples this week were, to varying degrees, revealing something which was otherwise unknown. The value and public interest will be best known to the editors of the publications they appeared in. Sheep worrying might raise a smile in a pub, but it’ll be a serious matter to readers of a farming publication. Likewise, if I was finding my operation was being cancelled at a time when hundreds of thousands were being spent on redundancy packages in the NHS, I’d be cross.
I also have yet to meet a reporter who’d shy away from doing what Luckhurst describes as ‘hard investigations’ given half the chance. But both those points are minor compared to the main thrust of Luckhurst’s argument.
Hacking, Watergate and MPs expenses weren’t revealed through FOI, Luckhurst says, but does that mean FOI has failed in its purpose? It’s not meant to be a tool which serves stories up on a plate for journalists. It’s meant to provide anyone with the right to know information. Indeed, Heather Brooke asked for MPs expenses under FOI and the only reason she didn’t get them is because the Government tried its hardest to use FOI exemptions to reveal the outrageous. If ever there was a lesson that the information will find a way out, this was it.
Would it have found its way out had Brooke not asked the questions? We’ll never know. But it takes journalists asking questions – or any member of the public, for that matter – to demonstrate an interest in information.
Then we move on to the idea that FOI is served up instead of investigative reporting. Again, this works on the assumption that you ask a question, get the story served up on a plate and you get your splash. FOI is riddled with pitfalls along the way and FOI is only ever the start of a story, not the story completed. Has it replaced meticulous investigations? Not in my experience – certainly when I began using it in 2005, the newsroom I worked in would do investigations if it thought it was worth the effort, but FOI didn’t replace that. And I believe the same is still true.
FOI isn’t always easy. There’s no guaranteed return. It can be cheap, but then again, so can an investigation. FOI should be an essential tool any investigative journalist is armed with. To my mind, if the story is worth asking the questions about, it’s worth finding the time to pursue – as FOI Friday shows time after time.
Done properly, FOI can help ensure you don’t struggle on a quiet news day, but it takes planning, and it takes an understanding about what the audience is interested in, and an understanding of the subject you are investigating. FOI can be blamed for a lot, but it’s not behind a perceived decline in journalism. It has made information more available – if you’re prepared to ask the right questions – as student journalists across the country will testify.
During the recent FOI hearing in parliament, journalist David Hencke suggested it actually helps whistleblowers tip journalists off to stories – because they know journalists have a route to the information with the right questions. That’s where FOI and investigative journalism meet. The two work together, and aren’t at odds.
FOI is under attack from politicians and civil servants at the moment. Finding it under attack from those within journalism is disappointing. The question I would pose to journalists criticising the use of FOI is: Would you rather we didn’t have it to use at all?
FOI Friday: Classroom languages, councillor pensions and criminals applying to be teachers
1. What land has your council sold?
Interesting stuff from the BBC in London (although finding a link to their story was very hard, so I’ve linked to one from a local newspaper which credits the BBC at least). They used FOI to ask all London councils how many plots of land they have sold off in recent years, where those plots were and how big they were. That’s surely enough to generate some local stories elesewhere.
2. Hospitals cashing in from no-win, no-fee solicitors
Admittedly, the Association of British Insurers has a vested interest putting out the results of this FOI – but at a time when car insurance premiums are on the rise, should hospitals really be allowed to make tens of thousands of pounds from injury-claim lawyers wishing to advertise in Accident and Emergency departments?
3. Hospital cuts taking their toll?
The argument against NHS cuts is that it will reduce level of care, but how can this be quantified? Cambridge First has come up with a good way – asking for details of the number of cases of ‘surgical infection’ in patients who underwent major surgery. The paper also got hold of details of the number of emergency readmissions of patients following stays in hospitals. Hospital staff say that the fact both sets of numbers are rising shows they aren’t being able to do their jobs properly.
Interesting numbers from the Bexhill Observer which, thanks to FOI, reports on the number of mums giving birth who have what it calls ‘dangerous addictions’ – ranging from smoking to heroin.
5. The criminals applying to be teachers
This is probably the FOI I expect to see run and run now. The Stoke Sentinel asked the Criminal Records Bureau for a breakdown of the number of people with criminal records who applied to become teachers – a job which involves a CRB check. According to the paper, people convicted for drug dealing, fraud, theft, and arson all tried to get to work in schools.
6. The rise and rise of the ‘post charge’ caution
When someone is charged with a crime by the police, it’s fair to assume they’ll go to court, isn’t it? Apparently not, according to the Liverpool Post, which this week revealed the rising use of the ‘post charge caution’ by the Crown Prosecution Service. 45 have been handed out in Greater Manchester – but more than 200 in Merseyside.
7. Another different take on the parking fines hotspots story
There have been a number of new takes on the parking fines hotspots story recently, and here’s another one. – focusing on how much a council makes off its top two streets. That is what the Wandsworth Guardian did – and found two streets which combined make the council £500,000 a year
8. Bans from libraries and leisure centres
The Hull Daily Mail has revealed how 34 people have been banned from leisure centres and libraries in the city for a variety of offences including drug possession and death threats. As usual, unions say the documented cases of abuse are just the tip of the iceberg.
Interesting stuff from a chap called Trevor Nunn, who runs a website which keeps an eye on Chester and Cheshire West Council. He used FOI to find out how much was paid into councillors’ pensions by the council in the last year – £124,000. So what, you might say, but given that councillors receive allowances rather than salaries, and aren’t actually employed by councils, isn’t it a little odd that they get pensions?
10. 140 languages spoke in primary schools
The Bradford Telegraph and Argus used FOI to get detailed information on the languages spoken in primary schools. Across Bradford, 140 languages are spoken, with some schools having up to 98% of children with english as a second language. This article, to me, is proof you can deal with these issues without being accused of stirring up hatred.
Like this:
FOI: An FOI officer responds to my 10 points on improving the Freedom of Information Act
Yesterday, I posted my submission to the House of Commons committee which will be reviewing the Freedom of Information Act. I believe we have a lot to fear from this review, with the cloak of cost being used by public authorities which don’t like paying more than lip service to transparency as a reason to restrict access to information.
My post prompted an email from Lee Gardiner, an FOI practitioner, who I’ve debated with on this blog before. He responds to each point I made, and I’ve added my original points into his reply so it makes sense in one post:
The Hillsborough Files: Why tonight’s debate is simply about the Government following the law
A million words have been written ahead of tonight’s House of Commons debate about the release of documents relating to the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in 1989.
Prime minister David Cameron, and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, have both pledged the full release of the documents held by government related to the tragedy, but have sought to impose their own terms on the release of those documents.
And that’s what politicians must not lose sight of during tonight’s debate. The debate was triggered by an e-petition which attracted 139,000 signatures. The petition was prompted by the Cabinet Office’s refusal to adhere to a ruling by the Information Commissioner relating to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the BBC, which asked for documents relating to the disaster held by the Cabinet Office.
Those documents would likely include the communications received and, presumably, sent by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
The Cabinet Office originally said no to the release of the documents, which the Information Commissioner then ruled against. The Cabinet Office was set to appeal that ruling, until politicians sensed a public backlash brewing and started promising full disclosure – but on their terms.
They want the information to be released after it has been read and cleared by the Hillsborough Independent Panel – set up to examine all Hillsborough documents - and then given to the families of the Hillsborough victims first.
While no-one would seek to deny the families of the victims access to the documents first, it is essential that the Government isn’t allowed to start creating its own set of rules for the release of the documents.
The e-petition called for:
Full government disclosure and publication of all documents, discussions and reports relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. As requested by information commissioner Christopher Graham.
The key phrase there is ‘As requested by information commissioner Christopher Graham.’ This isn’t about appealing to the Government to be more open and transparent, it’s about the Government following legislation and releasing information which the independent body involved in monitoring FOI – the Information Commissioner – has ruled should be released.
The Prime Minister today shadow health secretary Andy Burnham – an Everton fan who has been quite vocal on Hillsborough in recent times – that he wanted ‘full disclosure’ of Hillsborough documents.
Tonight, the Government has the chance to deliver on that – by releasing information it has been told to release. In other words, the Government should prove that it’s not one rule for us and one rule for them. Should that be the case, then FOI legislation really isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
* The Liverpool ECHO’s section dedicated to Hillsborough can be viewed here.
Academic and FOI … A tale of confused morals and the law
Smoking: But is there a smoking gun?
Universities have a funny attitude to FOI, don’t they? On one hand, academics wouldn’t think twice about using it as part of research, but should their research be subject to an FOI request, all hell can break loose. Just ask the University of East Anglia.
Stirling University is the latest university to have a problem with the use of FOI to get access to research data. The data concerned relates to research into the attitudes of teenage smokers, and has been compiled by a department at Stirling University which is funded largely by Cancer Research UK.
The news line in this comes from who it is asking for the data under FOI. The requests originates from Philip Morris International. Who? They make Marlboro cigarettes. Ah, now you see!
The case has already been to the Scottish Information Commissioner, after Stirling University tried to dismiss the FOI request on the grounds it was vexatious. The Scottish Information Commissioner rejected the University’s decision, and told the university to respond properly to the request.
Stirling University’s way of dealing with it appears to be to try and create merry mayhem about it, rather than actually come up with lawful reasons for not releasing it. The director of the centre which does the research, Gerard Hastings, said:
“They wanted everything we had ever done on this.
“These are confidential comments about how youngsters feel about tobacco marketing. This is the sort of research that would get a tobacco company into trouble if it did it itself.
“What is more, these kids have been reassured that only bona fide researchers will have access to their data. No way can Philip Morris fit into that definition.”
The Hillsborough Files: Don’t be fooled by a Government fudge
The Government tonight announced that it wouldn’t block the release of documents it holds relating to the Hillsborough disaster. As reported widely, the Information Commissioner had ruled the Cabinet Office should release the documents to the BBC following an FOI request which dates back to 2009.
The Government’s new position is being portrayed by some as a U-turn. It had, after all, last week confirmed it planned to appeal the Information Commissioner’s ruling, saying that the documents should only be released once the independent Hillsborough Panel, set up AFTER the BBC’s FOI request was submitted, decided it was the right time to release them.
So what’s changed? Well not very much, in truth. The Government has simply said it is happy for the documents to be disclosed, but when the Hillsborough Panel decides they should be released, and that the families of the 96 victims get to see the documents first. As it happens, there is nothing in the terms of reference of the panel to promote the release of all the documents, a point discovered by the BBC’s FOI expert Martin Rosenbaum.
I have no doubt the panel fully intends to release as many documents as possible but the Government shouldn’t be passing the buck. It has been subject of an FOI request and has been told to release the information. It should do it.
Has FOI helped reveal which national newspaper has the most influence in Whitehall?
The Daily Telegraph reports today on an FOI request which asked for a list of the top 1,000 most visited websites accessed from the Department for Transport’s computers. (the pdf is here).
The Telegraph goes heavy on some of the more unusual ones – such as sexymp.co.uk andbearsfraction.org.uk (medieval role play since you ask) but also finds space to list the most visited national newspaper websites – as well it might, given the Daily Telegraph tops the list.
Ranked 13 on the overall list, The Telegraph edged out the Daily Mail (31), The Independent (57), The Guardian (144), and The Sun (199).
Another way of looking at that is that more pages from www.etiquettehell.com were viewed on DfT computers than on the Guardian and The Sun.
Does this suggest The Telegraph is the most influential newspaper among parts of Whitehall? Although the BBC tops the list, it is also the natural go-to site for breaking news. A national newspaper website is, of course, different – it will break more exclusives, express a political tone and so on.
