Freedom of Information Requests

[Mojooo]

I am all for public organisations being held accountable and being transparent.

I also know PH love slagging of Councils etc and are generally very pro FOI.

I was looking at this side earlier http://www.whatdotheyknow.com

It displays other peoples FOI requests.

I note that one moron is absolutley bomabarding a council with FOI requests - probably a reporter.

I just wonder how much time and money is being spent fufilling these requests and gathering the data to do so.

I do work for a LA, and I have noted 1 or 2 occasions where someone has been sent to our dept to add up certain things/data and we have a strong inkling they are to fufil FOI requests - very much typical of of what most of you would call a non job (the person going around having to add things up that is)

[Mojooo]

Look at this

Guy requests the council gives him a list of all of their residential properties

I mean FFS, what chance did he have of that suceeding?

The reply is long and fairly well thought out - no odubt took a few hours of someones time.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/list_of_coun...

[Mojooo]

Am I the only one here? lol

check this one out - crazy

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/loss_of_trad...

[stitched]

Mojooo said:

Am I the only one here? lol

check this one out - crazy

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/loss_of_trad...

She claims she has been 'incorrectly' labelled mentally disabled, priceless.

[ninja-lewis]

There are a few serial requesters and those who make impossible demands (check the number to the MOD concerning UFOs!). However, I think the general idea is worthwhile - much of the information sought should really be available anyway. Take for example:

Mojooo said:

Look at this

Guy requests the council gives him a list of all of their residential properties

I mean FFS, what chance did he have of that suceeding?

The reply is long and fairly well thought out - no odubt took a few hours of someones time.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/list_of_coun...

Shouldn't the Council have a database of their assets that can rapidly be queried - not just for FoI purposes but also general Council business?

The good thing about FoI is that it is encouraging more openness in government - from councils publishing expenditure and other information picked up by OpenlyLocal to Ordnance Survey and other central government freeing access to data and publishing it in machine readable formats. The hope is that people will find new ways to use the data, whether to create new services or hold public bodies to account.

[Mojooo]

No i dont think the council should make public residential addresses it owns.

Bearing in mind the data can be used in an adverse way - for example sales use.

i do think dta which is very topical should just be published nationally on a website

for example use of RIPA (surveillance etc) - i imagine every council logs what it does anyway so the data for that kind of stuff is probably already their due to persistent FOI reuqests

[Jasandjules]

People will always abuse things.

Look at the Council's use of RIPA........

[V8mate]

I'm working with a County LA at the moment. Large number received; mainly from the local BBC radio station

I can only assume they have some budding investiagtive journalist who is hoping that attrition will strike gold one day and bring him his big break.

[Pupp]

Jasandjules said:

People will always abuse things.

Look at the Council's use of RIPA........

'Abuse' implies Councils are doing something unlawful by using RIPA. If Parliament gives powers to act, no-one should be surprised when they are used...

[FasterFreddy]

The Councils work for us. If they published everything they do in the public domain when they do it then FOI requests wouldn't require much of their time.

Personal information is an exception, but everything else should be out there for any of us to Google if we want to.