“The head of the NHS has been accused of a ‘systemic cover-up’ after official figures disclosed that hospitals have spent more than £4 million on secret gagging orders.”
Daily Telegraph, 15th September 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The police are referring fewer allegations of domestic violence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) even though the number of allegations by victims is increasing.”
The Independent, 3rd September 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“A local authority in London has been fined £70,000 after mistakenly disclosing sensitive personal information about more than 2,000 people in response to a freedom of information (FOI) request.”
OUT-LAW.com, 26th August 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“Public authorities could be required to make copyrighted information contained in datasets available in a re-usable format under changes to freedom of information (FOI) laws even if they are not in a position to sanction re-use.”
OUT-LAW.com, 12th August 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“The Home Office is to be monitored for three months over concerns it takes too long to respond to Freedom of Information requests.”
BBC News, 9th August 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Thousands of defendants failed to appear at courts in Wales last year, causing ‘significant and costly’ problems, BBC Wales has learnt.”
BBC News, 12th August 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Regina (Evans) v Her Majesty’s Attorney General [2013] EWHC 1960 (Admin); [2013] WLR (D) 313
“Section 53(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 required the existence of reasonable grounds before a certificate could be given by an accountable person and if reasonable grounds did not exist the certificate was invalid and of no effect. Further, a certificate under section 53(2) could validly be issued with regard to environmental information.”
WLR Daily, 9th July 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“More than 1,700 cases involving abusive messages sent online or via text message reached English and Welsh courts in 2012, the BBC has learned after a Freedom of Information request.”
BBC News, 30th July 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
South Lanarkshire Council v Scottish Information Commissioner [2013] UKSC 55; [2013] WLR (D) 307
“Whether processing personal data was ‘necessary’ within the meaning of condition 6 in Schedule 2 to the Data Protection Act 1998 was to be determined as part of the proportionality test established in European Union law so that a measure which interfered with a right protected by such law had to be the least restrictive for the achievement of a legitimate aim.”
WLR Daily, 29th July 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Supreme Court, 29th July 2013
“The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a council against disclosure of information on equal pay.”
Local Government Lawyer, 29th July 2013
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
“High court judges give the Guardian right to challenge cabinet move to keep secret so-called ‘black spider memos.’ ”
The Guardian, 25th July 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV v Federal Republic of Germany: (Case C-515/11); [2013] WLR (D) 291
“Pursuant to the first sentence of the second subparagraph of article 2(2) of Parliament and Council Directive 2003/4/EC of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information, the option given to member states by that provision of not regarding ‘bodies or institutions acting in a … legislative capacity’ as public authorities, required to allow access to the environmental information which they held, could not be applied to ministries when they prepared and adopted normative regulations which were of a lower rank than a law.”
WLR Daily 18th July 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The Administrative Court is the latest body to become involved in the on-going saga related to disclosure of the Prince of Wales’ correspondence with government departments. In the recent case of R. (Evans) v. Attorney General [2013] EWHC 1960 (Admin), the Guardian journalist Rob Evans challenged the legality of the government’s decision to veto disclosure of the relevant correspondence between Prince Charles and a range of government ministers. Disclosure of most of this material had been ordered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) by the Upper Tribunal, allowing an appeal from Evans against the earlier decision of the Information Commissioner that the correspondence sought could be withheld.”
UK Constitutional Law Group, 22nd July 2013
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
“The tension between transparency and individual privacy is part of what makes information rights such a fascinating and important area. When it comes to high-public interest issues involving particular individuals, prevailing wisdom has tended to be something like this: say as much as possible on an open basis, but redact and anonymise so as to protect the identity of the individuals involved. Increasingly, however, transparency is outmuscling privacy. See for example my post about the Tribunal’s order of disclosure, in the FOIA context, of the details of the compensation package of a Chief Executive of an NHS Trust (the case of Dicker v IC (EA/2012/0250).”
Panopticon, 11th July 2013
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
“As Chris Knight reported this morning, judgment has been handed down in R (Evans) v HM Attorney General [2013] EWHC 1960 (Admin). The Upper Tribunal had ordered disclosure of certain correspondence between Prince Charles and government ministers (termed ‘advocacy correspondence’). The government – the Attorney General specifically – exercised the power of veto under section 53 of FOIA. The requester, Guardian journalist Rob Evans, brought judicial review proceedings. The Administrative Court dismissed his claim.”
Panopticon, 10th July 2013
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
“An employee working for the Crown Prosecution Service added a defendant on Facebook, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.”
BBC News, 10th July 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The attorney general’s decision to block public disclosure of letters the Prince of Wales wrote to ministers has been upheld by the High Court.”
BBC News, 9th July 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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