Friday, April 25, 2008
Devil's Advocate
I don't want to create work and hassle for Public bodies for the sake of it, but having spent £176 odd on a training course that had a lot to say about how the Freedom of Information (FOI herein) Act 2000 works, I can't help but stick my oar in when I see what is to my mind a method of restricting questions via the FOI Act.
Went to my local NHS trust website and was once again trying to find what questions had already been asked under the FOI Act and all I could see was web form, however the web form was prepared to in such a way that it was asking way too much personal information from me which was mandatory in order to progress a question to them. i.e. more or less who, what, where and why. This is where my £176 comes in, apparently you don't actually have to give anything more than an email address according to FOI Section 8 where:
Went to my local NHS trust website and was once again trying to find what questions had already been asked under the FOI Act and all I could see was web form, however the web form was prepared to in such a way that it was asking way too much personal information from me which was mandatory in order to progress a question to them. i.e. more or less who, what, where and why. This is where my £176 comes in, apparently you don't actually have to give anything more than an email address according to FOI Section 8 where:
- 8 Request for information
(1) In this Act any reference to a “request for information” is a reference to such a request which—
(a) is in writing,
(b) states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence, and
(c) describes the information requested. - (2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a request is to be treated as made in writing where the text of the request—
(a) is transmitted by electronic means,
(b) is received in legible form, and
(c) is capable of being used for subsequent reference.
So I stated my name and gave my email address, which is fulling compliant with a valid request under Section 8 of the FOI Act 2000.
Playing Devil's Advocate I asked if they had a disclosure log of questions asked and then I asked a few searching questions about re-admissions after being discharged from A&E and whether or not a re-admission within a very short period of time was charged to the PCT at a reduced or higher tariff. i.e. only questions someone with a bit of knowledge would know.
It will be interesting to see if I actually get a comprehensive reply.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Freedom of Information Act - my first request
Well, I've been reading quite a few articles on the Freedom of Information Act recently and I've found some of the Freedom of Information Disclosure Logs completely fascinating. Not fascinating in the conventional sense like amazing scams being uncovered, news breaking disclosures of significant information, but quite to the contrary, the trivial, the mundane and sometimes the really rather interesting.
For instance on the FOI Disclosure log for HMRC formerly Customs & Excise, someone asked the number of Taxpayers in the UK with a total earned income in of £1 million or more
Number of individuals2 95% confidence interval3
1996/7 1,200 ± 300
1997/8 1,000 ± 300
1998/9 1,800 ± 350
1999/0 2,300 ± 300
2000/1 4,100 ± 450
2001/2 3,400
2002/3 2,800
2003/4 3,000
2004/5 3,600
2005/6 4,100
It is quite amazing just what the dot.com bubble really did for quite a number of people and how long it took to come to similar numbers in 2005/6.
Dangerous Thoughts
This got me to thinking and a tried to see if my local council had a disclosure log handy on their website. Google was certainly not my friend on this occasion and the council website did not have any indication that they publish the questions people ask. I did try my best to find it, but if they have published it I get the impression they are trying to hide it. Plenty of information about it, but is it really in keeping with the spirit of what the FOI Act 200o is all about.
So my first FOI request was of course to "request information about the FOI disclosure log" and to be fair to them my local council has replied very promptly and said they would "try to supply you with the information sought by no later than 23 May 2008." More ominously they said:
For instance on the FOI Disclosure log for HMRC formerly Customs & Excise, someone asked the number of Taxpayers in the UK with a total earned income in of £1 million or more
Number of individuals2 95% confidence interval3
1996/7 1,200 ± 300
1997/8 1,000 ± 300
1998/9 1,800 ± 350
1999/0 2,300 ± 300
2000/1 4,100 ± 450
2001/2 3,400
2002/3 2,800
2003/4 3,000
2004/5 3,600
2005/6 4,100
It is quite amazing just what the dot.com bubble really did for quite a number of people and how long it took to come to similar numbers in 2005/6.
Dangerous Thoughts
This got me to thinking and a tried to see if my local council had a disclosure log handy on their website. Google was certainly not my friend on this occasion and the council website did not have any indication that they publish the questions people ask. I did try my best to find it, but if they have published it I get the impression they are trying to hide it. Plenty of information about it, but is it really in keeping with the spirit of what the FOI Act 200o is all about.
So my first FOI request was of course to "request information about the FOI disclosure log" and to be fair to them my local council has replied very promptly and said they would "try to supply you with the information sought by no later than 23 May 2008." More ominously they said:
- "In some circumstances a request may be subject to a) the payment of a fee, or b) an exemption may apply preventing disclosure of the information. If this is the case with your request, I will let you know immediately.
Having had a bit of training about this in my job, I know they have to spend 20 hours on the request completely free of charge.
I wonder will they come up trumps and be open and true to the legislation or just pay lipservice and try to fob me off.
Watch this space.
