Freedom of Information

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 20 Sep 2004, 12:56

The Scots media has been pretty quiet about our new rights under Freedom of Information legislation which is being introduced in the New Year. You can read about it here but basically what it means is that (subject to some fairly restricted exceptions) we all have the right to access all sorts of information that was previously closed to us. This is a huge step forward for the rights of the individual citizen...

Gemini · Post by **Gemini** » 20 Sep 2004, 17:45

The Act is supposed to be fully retrospective!

I have grave concerns that the City of Edinburgh Council will continue to play the old 'it's lost' card. More especially for information relating back to the days of the LRC - little ongoing scenario we are involved in.

It will be interesting to see if/how this Act can change the attitude of the Council.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 20 Sep 2004, 18:49

What sort of things can we find out about now that we couldn't before?

I couldn't find anything specific mentioned on the site.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 20 Sep 2004, 19:22

Anything. The default position is that the government department has to answer any questions sent to them in writing unless it is covered by an exemption.

Exemptions are pretty restricted. Already, some government departments are publishing management board minutes, training manuals, policies and guidelines... The esay way to find out what a department is publishing is to go to their web site and download a copy of their Publication Scheme. Even if something isn't listed there, chances are you can still see it on request.

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