Parliamentary Topics page

EDM 589 is included on Parliament’s topical issues webpages: Freedom of Information topic Please write to your MP and ask them to sign if they have not already done so: That this House notes that section 6 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, with certain exceptions, makes companies wholly owned by the Crown or […] →Read more

article in Lib Dem Voice

my article Freedom of Information loophole – article in Liberal Democrat Voice see also CFOI: http://foia.blogspot.com/2010/01/edm-589-foi-and-companies-owned-by-two.html →Read more

Police force saves time thanks to WhatDoTheyKnow

Cheshire Police avoid having to provide the same information again in response to an FOI request by linking to WhatDoTheyKnow.com. Following this approach public authorities only need to provide information once through whatdotheyknow.com. “This information is already reasonably accessible to you by other means and is therefore exempt information in accordance with Section 21 of […] →Read more

Ministers will go to court to avoid disclosing state spending on Royal Family

“Ministers are to go to court to try to stop The Independent from seeing secret correspondence which could shed light on how public money has been spent on the Royal Family.” Source: Indepenent →Read more

ICO will rule against the Commons

“The decision was that the request is valid for the purposes of the Act and that it is reasonably practicable for the House of Commons to provide you with an electronic copy of the information requested via the ‘what do they know?’ website. A Decision Notice will be drafted shortly to confirm the Commissioner’s view […] →Read more

William cuts the ribbon on a building that will cut royal power

Do not be fooled by the so called pop star welcome for Prince William or reports of royal fever the building he has opened is a Supreme Court and it means that where previously New Zealanders’ final right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, based in London it is now to […] →Read more

EDM 589

I asked my MP to propose an EDM on this subject and he now has, please write to your MP and get them to sign as well. EDM 589 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND COMPANIES OWNED BY TWO OR MORE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES “That this House notes that section 6 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 […] →Read more

The legislative powers of the Duchy of Lancaster

The context to this blog post is that I am trying to convince the ICO that the Duchy of Lancaster is a public authority. I have already submitted detailed evidence to the ICO but I have not yet focussed heavily of the legislative powers of the Duchy. This blog post is based on an email […] →Read more

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have to pay rent from today

“From today, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent will have to meet the £120,000-a-year rent on their Kensington Palace apartment out of their own pockets.” Source: Daily Mail I welcome this but I call on the Government to make further reforms during 2010: (1) ensuring a clear split between the public and private expenditure of […] →Read more

The Commonwealth a popular club for Republics?

I sometimes get the feeling that one reason some people in the UK want to keep the monarchy is because of the Commonwealth. The Queen appears to offer us membership of a sort of international club who share a single head of state. Except they don’t: There are 54 member states, of these 16 have […] →Read more