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Evidence
to the Protection of Freedoms Bill Committee |
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March 2011. Note to the Protection of Freedoms
Bill Committee setting out the Campaign's views on the
Bill.
The Campaign gave oral evidence to the Committee on 24
March 2011. |
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Response
to the Ministry of Justice's Call for Evidence on the
Current Data Protection Legislative Framework |
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December 2010. This response comments on
the Ministry of Justice's Call for Evidence on the Current
Data Protection
Legislative Framework. It highlights the substantial discrepancies
between the rights of individuals to see their own personal
data under the Data Protection Act and the rights of any
member of the public to obtain official information under
the Freedom of Information Act. It also deals with an apparent
obstable to the release under the FOI Act of anonymised
statistics derived from personal data. |
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Response
to consultation on extending the coverage of the FOI
(Scotland) Act |
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November 2010. This response comments on
the Scottish Government's consultation on extending the
coverage
of
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. |
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Does the
public interest test include the benefit to the public
overseas? |
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September 2010. A short submission to the
First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) on an aspect of
the
FOI Act's
public
interest test. The submission argues that the public interest
test can include the potential benefit from disclosure
to the public in countries other than the UK and is not
limited to the benefits to the UK public only, as the Information
Commissioner has argued. |
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Response
to the Scottish Government's consultation on a revised
FOI good practice code |
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April 2010. Response to the Scottish Government's
consultation
on revising its code of good practice under the Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act. The response expresses concern
that the draft code's approach to requests which are phrased
in terms of 'documents' rather than 'information' is restrictive
and undermines the Scottish Information Commissioner's
guidance on this issue. It suggests that the guidance on
the provision of advice and assistance could be strengthened;
that the loss of specific Scottish Government guidance
on the EIRs may have unintended consequences; that the
draft may lead to confusion between the FOISA exemptions
on breach of confidence and substantial prejudice to commercial
interests. It also says authorities should not be entitled
to ignore a request for internal review which has not been
made to a designated person. |
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Ministry
of Justice's freedom of information statistics 361
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The Campaign has responded to a request
from the UK Statistics Authority for its views on the adequacy
of the Ministry of Justice's freedom of information statistics. |
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Submission
to the 30 year rule review 464
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April 2008. Response to the review of the
30 year rule that was set up by the Prime Minister. The
response
summarises
the 7 Information Tribunal decisions to date dealing with
advice or internal discussion and points out that in almost
every case the Tribunal has held that disclosure should
have taken place at the time of the request, a few years
or months after the decision. It says that this material
should now be proactively released after 15 years, though
if necessary, the reduction could be brought in in two
stages, starting with 20 years initially. This change would
also mean that these exemptions could no longer be used
to withhold information under the FOI Act once it was 15
(or 20) years old. |
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Response
to the consultation on extending the FOI Act 437
kb |
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March 2008. Response to the Ministry of
Justice 'Freedom of Information Act 2000: Designation of
additional
public
authorities' consultation paper. |
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Response
to the consultation on the government's FOI fees proposals 532
kb |
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March 2007. Response to the the consultation on the
government's Draft Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2007. |
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Letter
to MPs on the FOI (Amendment) Bill committee 820
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February 2007. Letter to Members of Parliament on
the public bill comittee that considered the Freedom of
Information (Amendment) Bill, a private Member's bill introduced
by David Maclean MP to remove Parliament from the scope
of the FOI Act. |
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Letter to the
Department for Constitutional Affairs 900
kb |
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November 2006. Letter setting out the Campaign's serious
concerns about the government's proposals to amend the
fees regulations under the Freedom of Information Act. |
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One
Year On - Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 884
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April 2006. Response to the Scottish Executive's
review of the Act after the first year. |
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Constitutional
Affairs Select Committee evidence 872 kb |
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March 2006. Written
evidence to inquiry into the FOI Act by the Constitutional
Affairs
Select Committee. A transcript of the Campaign's oral evidence
on 28 March 2006 is available here. |
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Finance
Committee submission 876 kb |
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April 2006. Submission to an inquiry by
the Scottish Parliament's Finance Committee which is looking
at the
role of various regulators including the Scottish Information
Commissioner. |
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New edition
of the FOI code of practice 324
kb |
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November 2004. The Campaign has expressed
concern at a new edition of the code of practice issued
by the
government
under section 45 of the FOI Act, which it says contravenes
two ministerial commitments to Parliament. These deal with the
time limits for responding to requests and the circumstances
in which authorities should accept information in confidence.
The Campaign has written to Lord Falconer, the Secretary
of State for Consititutional Affairs, asking him to amend
the code so that it complies with these commitments. |
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Environmental information
in Scotland 456 kb |
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Response to the Scottish Executive's consultation
on the draft Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations. Added
16 July 2004 |
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Scottish
Information Commissioner's publication scheme response 304
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Comments on the Scottish Information Commissioner's
draft publication scheme. Added
18 June 2004 |
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Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act fees response 314
kb |
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Response to the Scottish Executive's consultation
on the fees that can be charged for information under the
FOI (Scotland) Act. Added
1 June 2004 |
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Charges
for information under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 |
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The Campaign has written to MPs urging
them to sign a Parliamentary motion calling on the Government
to honour commitments on fees under the FOI Act made by
ministers in Parliament. Added
26 May 2004 |
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Amending
the bar on safety disclosure 325
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The Campaign has responded to a preliminary
HSC/E consultation on proposals to amend the statutory
prohibition on disclosure in section 28 of the Health and
Safety at Work Act 1974. Added
14 April 2004 |
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Section
60 code response |
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Response to the Scottish Executive's consultation
on the code of practice to be issued under section 60 of
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act providing guidance
to public authorities on best practice. Added
November 2003 |
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Data Protection
Act subject access consultation response 164
kb |
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The Campaign has published its response
to the consultation by the Lord Chancellor's Department
on the subject access provisions of the Data Protection
Act. It is calling for people to have the right (a) to
know when information has been withheld from them under
one of the DPA exemptions; (b) to be able to appeal to
the Information Tribunal against decisions of the Information
Commissioner, and (c) for the DPA exemptions to be made
subject to a public interest test. Added
March 2003 |
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New draft
Environmental Information Regulations response 228
kb |
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The Campaign's response welcomes the new
draft Environmental Information Regulations as a substantial
improvement on the existing Regulations and the Freedom
of Information Act. However, it identifies a number of
areas where the proposals fall short ofthe FOI Act, and
calls for these to be improved. |
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Letter to the
Information Commissioner 172
kb |
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The Campaign has written to the Information
Commissioner challenging the view that the Commissioner
does not have the legal power under the FOI Act to require
authorities to include particular classes of information
in their publication schemes. Its says the Act itself,
and ministers' comments during its passage, make it clear
that the Commissioner does have this power and believes
the failure to acknowledge and use it will weaken the legislation.
It says authorities should be required to publish the internal
guidance used by officials in their dealings with the public. |
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Offence
for destroying information |
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Letter to Michael Wills MP, Parliamentary
Secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department about implementation
of the offence for destroying information which has been
requested under the Data Protection Act. Added
16 May 2002 |
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Secondary
legislation under the FOI Act |
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Letter to the FOI and Data Protection Division
in the Lord Chancellor's Department about the draft timetable
for implementing secondary legislation and codes under
the FOI Act. Added
7 May 2002 |
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Further
comments on the draft 'good practice' code 184
kb |
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Since the Campaign's original
response (see below) to the draft code of practice to
be issued under section 45 of the Freedom of Information
Act, a
more recent version has become available. These further
comments address the changes that have been made in the
revised version. Added
11 March 2002 |
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Comment on the draft 'good practice' code 268
kb
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14 February 2002. The Campaign's response to the draft code of practice to be issued by the Lord Chancellor under section 45 of the Freedom of Information Act. The code is intended to set out "desirable" practice under the Act. One of the Commissioner's duties will be to promote compliance with it. |
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The ministerial veto overseas 184 kb
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8 January 2002. This paper describes overseas experience with a ministerial veto in some FOI laws. It was submitted to the Justice 1 Committee which is considering the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Bill. |
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Oral evidence to Justice 1 Committee
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David Goldberg, Co-convener of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland, and Maurice Frankel, Director of the Campaign, gave oral evidence on the FOI (Scotland) Bill to the Justice Committee 1 of the Scottish Parliament on 27 November 2001.
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Evidence to Justice Committee 1 188 kb
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30 November 2001. Written evidence to the Justice Committee 1 on the FOI (Scotland) Bill. |
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Publication schemes
response 80
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30 October 2001. The Campaign's response to the Information Commissioner's consultation paper on publication schemes. The FOI Act requires every public authority to produce such a scheme describing information it publishes. The Campaign says publication schemes should not be approved by the Commissioner unless they make substantial progress in releasing previously unpublished information, and should require authorities to provide 'access tools' to help applicants understand what information they hold. |
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Response to consultation on access to local government information 208
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26 July 2001. This response calls for the tightening up of the exemptions in the access to local government information provisions, for the exemptions to be subject to a public interest test and for an effective mechanism to appeal against decisions to hold meetings in private. It also highlights the need to extend the scope of the openness provisions to bodies carrying out services on behalf of local authorities and parish councils. |
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Supplementary submission on draft FOI Bill
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June 2001. Letter expressing concern at an exemption for investigations into deaths contained in the draft Scottish FOI Bill.
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Response
to consultation on the draft FOI Bill 192
kb
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March 2001. The Campaign's response to Scottish Executive's consultation on the draft Freedom of Information (Scotland) Bill. The response was also prepared for a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the draft Bill. |
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Response to consultation on local authority openness
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August 2000. The Campaign's response to the consultation on the draft Executive Arrangements (Decisions, Documents and Meetings)(England) Regulations, which deals in detail with our concerns. These regulations, to be made under the Local Government Act 2000, will govern large areas of local authority openness in the future. Our concerns include the definition of 'key decisions', what information should be listed on an authority's 'forward plan', access to papers before a decision is taken and the requirements for meetings to be open to the public. |
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Evidence on the
draft Bill to the Public Administration Committee 312
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The Campaign's response to the draft FOI Bill, which deals in detail with our main concerns. These include exemptions without harm tests, no public interest override to enable the Commissioner to order disclosure, and giving authorities the right to pry into an applicant's reasons for asking for the information. There are two submissions to the select committee, dated 22 June and 23 July 1999, combined into this one document. |
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Delay in introducing FOI legislation |
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This November 1998 letter to the Prime Minister from the Campaign and forty-six other organisations expresses our concern at the delay in bringing forward FOI legislation. It asks the Prime Minister to give an explicit commitment that a bill will be introduced in the 1999/2000 parliamentary session. |
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Confidentiality clause in the new Data Protection Bill |
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This June 1998 letter to the Home Office outlines the Campaign's concerns that the confidentiality clause in the Data Protection Bill will lead to considerable unnecessary secrecy about the operation of the new legislation. |
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Home Office response |
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Reply to the Campaign's letter concerning secrecy and the operation of the new data protection legislation. (The Data Protection Registrar subsequently said that she found the Campaign's views on this issue "persuasive" and did not agree with the views expressed by the Home Office in this letter.) |
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Response to the Government's FOI proposals |
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The Campaign's response, published in March 1998, to the government's white paper on FoI. This detailed paper also incorporates the Campaign's evidence to the House of Commons Public Administration Committee in January 1998. |
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Publication of papers of previous administrations |
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October 1997. Letter to Jeff Rooker MP, Food Safety Minister, about the restriction which prevents ministers seeing the papers of a previous administration. Mr Rooker had been denied access to a report on abattoir safety standards which he therefore could not make public. |
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Enforcement of FOI |
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July 1997. Letter to Dr David Clark MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, about the enforcement of Freedom of Information. |
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Consulting about FOI |
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June 1997. Letter to Dr David Clark MP suggesting that the Government's proposals should be developed with the maximum openness. |
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Openness in local government |
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October 1996. Evidence to the Nolan Committee Inquiry into Aspects of Conduct in Local Government. |
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Access to personal files and the new EC Data Protection Directive |
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September 1996. Response to a Home Office consultation document on the EC Data Protection Directive. The Campaign calls for existing rights of access under the Data Protection Act to be improved and expresses concern that some other rights (eg to see credit, school and medical records) could be weakened if they are consolidated into the proposed new legislation. |
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Ministerial accountablity after the Scott Report |
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July 1996. Evidence to the Public Service Select Committee's inquiry into ministerial accountablility. |
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Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment |
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February 1996. Evidence on the Environmental Information Regulations 1992 to the House of Lords European Communities Committee. The Regulations implement an EU Directive and provide a general right of access to environmental information held by public bodies. |
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The operation of the Open Government Code of Practice |
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March 1995. Evidence to the Select Committee on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Ombudsman). This describes the Campaign's experience of using the Code of Practice in the first year of its operation. |
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Information that even the Ombudsman could not see |
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March 1995. Further evidence to the Select Committee on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, concerning the Lord Chancellor's Department's refusal to provide requested information. |
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Government information on the Internet |
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October 1995. Letter to Roger Freeman MP, the minister responsible for 'open government', about the lack of access to Hansard and statutes on the Internet and suggestions for putting more information on the government's web site. |
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Access to Personal Files and Health & Safety Information |
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July 1995. Letter to Roger Freeman MP about the government's failure to introduce promised legislation on access to personal files and access to health and safety information. |
