The Good, The Bad And The Downright Foolish

The Good, The Bad And The Downright Foolish

Freedom of Information requests: The great, the bad and the downright silly
25 April 2012
As the federal government prepares to launch annual statistics for Freedom of Data requests, Yahoo! Information takes a take a look at 5 of the perfect FOIs in the final 12 months - from the extraordinary to the extraterrestrial.
A freedom of data act, mentioned Tony Blair as chief of the opposition in 1996, "will signal a new relationship between authorities and other people: a relationship which sees the general public as reputable stakeholders within the operating of the country."
Writing in his memoirs some years later, the ex-prime minister sang a somewhat totally different tune, noting that it was one of many biggest errors of his political profession.
Whereas Blair believed the act offered undesirable obstacles to efficient governance, the cost associated with the act was additionally a degree of objection. Though public our bodies can refuse requests if imagine they'll value over £600, the act has value taxpayers a reported £31million since 2005.
But FOIs have exposed racism in the police pressure, corruption in native authorities and waste in hospitals.
A few of Britain's stranger curiosities have additionally been satiated by the 197,000 requests made because it came into force in 2005.
The Local Government Affiliation's record of probably the most "bizarre" FOI requests - together with council preparations for a Santa crash landings and Napoleon's pending invasion - resulted in calls from Tory MP Simon Hart for stronger regulation to curb "bonkers" requests.
However in its seven-12 months existence the act has helped revolutionise British politics, concurrently inflicting and exposing authorities waste, scary and shaping debate. Listed below are simply 5 issues we'd in all probability never have found out over the last 12 months if it wasn't for the Freedom of Data act:
Racism in the Met…
In the wake of the conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for homicide of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993, and some 13 years after the MacPherson report discovered the police pressure to be institutionally racist,” the Freedom of Data act was utilized in April this year to help expose instances of constant racism throughout the Metropolitan Police.
Thanks to the act Channel 4 Information were able to reveal that a hundred and twenty law enforcement officials on the Metropolitan Police were found guilty of racist conduct during the last decade. And, whereas six officers were forced to resign, simply one of many 120 was dismissed. Updating the story to incorporate information between 1999 and 2012, the broadcaster discovered that 293 police officers have been disciplined for racist behaviour, while 749 were referred to the Impartial Police Complaints Fee (IPCC). The data prompted a robust response from new Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe, who mentioned he wouldn't "stand for any racism or racists".
Thousands of hospitals sufferers discharged in the middle of the night every week…
Requests to NHS trusts and The Division of Health have resulted in a number of high-profile scoops for the reason that Freedom of Data came into pressure in 2005 - most notably in 2006, when it was revealed that the NHS had made accessible Implanon implants to women from the age of thirteen in an attempt to chop teenage pregnancies. Earlier this yr, FOI requests established a bleak picture of the impression of government austerity cuts on the NHS' mental health service.
Nonetheless, one of the crucial surprising FOI stories of the past twelve months got here within the form of a Occasions investigation, which found that eight,000 NHS sufferers are discharged in middle of the night every week. The figures revealed that, in the last yr, 239,233 sufferers had been discharged from state-run hospitals between the hours of 11pm and 6am in an attempt to liberate hospital beds.
Info was requested via the act from NHS Trusts and Foundations Trusts throughout Britain, permitting data to be damaged down. At some hospitals, for instance, over seven per cent of all affected person discharges have been between these hours.
Tobacco corporations eavesdrop on authorities coverage…
Public bodies, under the Freedom of Data act, have found themselves occupied by tobacco companies on more than one event. A reporter on the Sunderland Echo discovered that Tyne and Put on Local Government Pension Fund had greater than £35m tied up in tobacco companies - and that Durham County Council had invested round £9m in General Dynamics Corp, an arms producer that produces parts used in cluster bombs.
And whereas a run-of-the-mill FOI request from a journalist resulted an unlikely scoop, heads have been turned in September 2011 when it was revealed that Philip Morris Worldwide, the world's largest tobacco company, had been placing the act to make use of itself. The knowledge, out there on - a web site that holds all FOI requests - revealed that the corporate submitted requests to the Department of Well being with the intention to entry government documents regarding tobacco regulation as well to knowledge from a analysis undertaking at Stirling University funded by Cancer Research UK, that included interviews with British children about their attitudes to smoking.
Leicester is not prepared for the night time of the dwelling useless, however Bristol is…
"Expensive Leicester Metropolis Council", begins one of the extra frivolous Freedom of Info requests "Can you please let us know what provisions you might have in place in the occasion of a zombie invasion? Having watched several films it's clear that preparation for such an event is poor and one which councils all through the dominion should prepare for. Yours faithfully, Involved Citizen."
Leicester Metropolis Council was comfortable to reply though admitted it has "no specific plans in place" as "zombies aren't specifically talked about in its Council Emergency Plan".
A number of requests flooded in, essentially the most amusing coming from a concerned Bristol resident and responsible dad or mum”, asking if Bristol Metropolis Council is best prepared for a zombie invasion than these naysayers in the east midlands.”
Bristol City Council was happy to, imparting the next information: Intelligence from redacted, on grounds of nationwide safety indicates that sure parts of the Bristol space have an enhanced zombie prevalence, including Whitchurch Park. False positives have been found in Stokes Croft, that are subject of below-cowl investigation by use of redacted, on grounds of national safety.”
The reality is de facto out there…
Following dozens of requests underneath the Freedom of Info act, the Ministry Defence - again in January - agreed to reveal its full listing of reported UFO sightings. Whereas Chief Constable Ian Arundale, of Dyfed Powys pressure in Wales, had complained in December of final 12 months that officers are being compelled to spend hours answering "bizarre" queries about UFOs instead of being on the beat, data released through FOI requests reveals a whole bunch of studies of unusual flying objects and even encounters with aliens”.
As a result of high variety of requests, data referring to UFO sighting between 1997 and 2009 is already accessible on the MoD website - and the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) report was released final yr following an FOI request from 2006 and includes nearly 9,000 pages of UFO sightings and incidents, images and drawings, RAF investigations, and authorities UFO policy documents. This, however, hasn't stopped requests by sky-gazers for information concerning preparations for an alien attack by a extraterrestrial or non terrestrial being…”
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