Nice one Eric. Hampshire County Council in a pickle?

Good old Hampshire County Council (HCC)!  In an ever-changing world it's good to know that it's behaving as dimly as ever.  The Freedom of Information Act exists so that citizens can get information about how their money is being spent by public authorities, and it's no surprise, to those of us who've lived in Hampshire for a while, that our County Council isn't comfortable with having to reveal the details of the way it works.



Councillor Colin Davidovitz, the cabinet member for communication and efficiency, led the charge:

'There's no doubt that newspapers use the information they receive from FoIs to benefit a great deal, by putting it on their front page to sell more papers. They are benefiting from research we do on their behalf, at our expense. We also provide information to researchers. I see nothing wrong with charging organisations who benefit from the information we give them, for the service we provide. Why should taxpayers pay for newspapers to benefit?'

He was joined by Council leader Councillor Ken Thornber, who said:

'We will ask the Local Government Association to push for us to be allowed to charge commercial organisations where the data supplied is of commercial value to them.'

Apparently, in 2009/10 HCC spent £318,000 answering 707 FOI requests, which sounds like money well spent to me, especially as openness could have saved a lot of that - they need to understand that secrecy is what drives people to make FOI requests!

Those who campaign for greater public openness found an unlikely ally in Local Government Minster, Eric Pickles, a politician not renowned for his liberal tendencies. 



That's the Eric Pickles whose department declined to answer an FOI request about whether he took legal advice in the in the wake of adversely critical comments by a Department of Community and Local Government 'source' about the electoral commission chair, Jenny Watson. Ministers declined to renew her position as a board member of the audit commission in September.  It's widely accepted that Pickles did get external legal advice on the issue, so for a man so dedicated to the cause of transparency it should have been an easy (and cheap) one to answer: 'Yes' would have done!  I'm not sure how Pickles' reticence on this one fits in with his earlier statement that:

People should be able to hold politicians and public bodies to account over how their hard earned cash is being spent and decisions made on their behalf. They can only do that effectively if they have the information they need at their fingertips.

Still, back to Hampshire where he does support transparency.

"If councillors and council officers are to be held to account the press and public need access to the information that will enable them to do it.

"If town halls want to reduce the amount they spend on responding to freedom of information requests they should consider making the information freely available in the first place.

"The simple act of throwing open the books, rather than waiting for them to be prised apart by the force of an FoI, might even save a few pounds in the process.

"Greater local accountability is essential to accompany the greater powers and freedoms that the new government is giving to local government."

Councillors Davidovitz and Thornber need to think things through a bit more clearly.  Will papers have to also pay for the plethora of Press Releases issued by HCC, or will they be free because they contain the information they want to be made public?  I'll have you a bet that the HCC Press Releases in 2009/10 cost a lot more than £318,000 to produce.

Let's hope that the next time a Council puts its foot on the ball and slows the game down, Pickles' statement will rapidly bring them to their senses.  



Sauce for the gander?

Every so often we hear cries of outrage about foreign diplomats using Diplomatic Immunity to escape prosecution for parking offences and sometimes much worse alleged crimes.  There tends to be a slightly xenophobic tone in some such reports, with the clear implication being that we Brits wouldn't do such a thing.  It was therefore with some interest that I read that a recent Freedom of Information Act request showed that in the past ten years 18 of our diplomats have invoked Diplomatic Immunity to avoid prosecution for alleged frauds, assaults, defamation, trespass, and driving offences!  Furthermore, according to today's Daily Mirror, all of those accused kept their jobs and their pensions - the Foreign Office maintains that 'some' of the allegations were made in 'bad faith'.   Irrespective of that, it's worth bearing this story in mind the next time there's an outbreak of indignation about other countries' records on this matter!

Unlocking the secrets...

The week six media law lecture was short and sweet, but contained some fascinating stuff.  Intellectual property was an area where I had some experience having been in the software business for many years, and the key messages I took away were to properly understand Fair Dealing and Creative Commons licenses. 

However, it was the Freedom of Information (FOI) section that really captured my interest, and I've spent an interesting hour looking through http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/ and http://www.foinews.co.uk/ .  My aim is to build my freelance work and the Freedom of Information Act might just be one of the ways that I can do that.  I've already started to draft some FOI requests in order to build a portfolio of information that can be unleashed on an unsuspecting public - and editors - at the appropriate time.  I have been looking at past requests to public organisations with which I am familiar, and there is some great stuff in there - I found Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council to be a mine of information, not all of it useless!

Martin Rosenbaum's Open Secrets blog has some good stuff, and just because requests have been made, it doesn't mean that there are no 'supplementaries' to ask.  I'm old enough to remember Michael Hesletine storming out of Thatcher's cabinet over the Westland affair, and "The Secretary of State withdrew from the meeting at that point," made me smile!

I reckon there's a lot of fun to be had with the FOI Act over the coming months - a good starting point is to watch Matthew Davis - he of http://www.foinews.co.uk/ - on the course website.