It is worth taking a closer look at a recent ICO ruling to see just how desperate the Government is to keep information about the Royal’s secret. The Government tried to use no less than eight separate exemptions to keep the information secret the ICO found that five of these exemptions were not relevant and […] →Read more
“The chairman of the House of Commons justice committee, which scrutinises secrecy laws, called for the disclosure of recent letters from the prince to cabinet ministers including Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, on subjects thought to range from the standard of primary school education to the design of ecotowns.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/18/prince-charles-letters →Read more
“email me whenever Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith speaks.” http://www.theyworkforyou.com/royal/elizabeth_the_second →Read more
“To ask for information about the Duchy of Lancaster and still more about the Duchy of Cornwall is like trying to get information from the KGB.” Mr Willie Hamilton MP 13 May 1975 →Read more
Recently, I have found that I need to get some background information in order to support my arguments to get information. List of Navigation Authorities and special status of the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster List of .gov.uk websites and documents in relation to duchyofcornwall.gov.uk →Read more
A recent response to my FOI request to the Department for Work and Pensions revealed that public funds have been used to pay for lots of phone numbers that don’t actually work for various reasons. The release appears to have party accidental. It looks like about 130 phone numbers that don’t work were identified as […] →Read more
I have found out today thanks to Wikipedia about a committee that I can’t imagine many people know about. “The subject of the Convention goes to the heart of the relationship between people and governments. The Convention is not only an environmental agreement, it is also a Convention about government accountability, transparency and responsiveness.” Source: […] →Read more
“Peter Bottomley (Worthing West): To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the KPMG Report to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) reviewing lessons learned from the London Metropolitan University case, (a) whether (i) KMPG, (ii) HEFCE and (iii) his […] →Read more
“I can inform you that I have now written to the Duchy of Lancaster to obtain their submissions where the Commissioner requires further information in order to consider whether it constitutes a public authority under the Environmental Information Regulations.” email received 2 December 2009 →Read more
I am pleased to report that the ICO is actively considering the Duchy of Lancaster case. Recently I have been contacted by several people about this case and I think it is right that I keep interested parties updated. I do not want to go into too much detail as it might not help the […] →Read more