http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html en-gb 30 Thu 07 Jan 2010 12:48:37 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html?page=17#comment6 I can't say what the current position is (having been sacked for trying to protect FOI by leaking to the BBC 18 months ago - or at least that's how my central government department employers (obviously not Home Office!) chose to see my actions), but the Home Office were always seen as a bit of a joke for needing Ministerial agreement to every FOI response and (in the early days), wanting MoJ (DCA as was) to approve every single response, no matter how mundane. Don't tar all Civil Servants or departments with the Home Office brush! Wed 17 Dec 2008 02:29:51 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html?page=14#comment5 "inadvertantly"?No one "groomed" one hopes. Thu 11 Dec 2008 15:18:00 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html?page=11#comment4 So, just following arresting an Opposition MP for leaking information of a kind that has been meat and drink to MPs for years - even the Labour MP for Thurrock said so in the debate the other day - we mysteriously have information sent "inadvertantly" to the BBC to show how overworked they all are in replying to FOI requests.Yeah. Right. Wed 10 Dec 2008 19:43:58 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html?page=8#comment3 Conservatives claimed for years that the FoI was an intrusion into government secrets and only wanted by "left-wing busybodies". They bitterly opposed the FoI being made law.Now that Conservatives have become left-wing busybodies too, they use the FoI quite a lot. Which pauline conversions are welcome. But I wonder if it is their policy to repeal the FoI if they ever gain office?The law presumes that whatever is published under the FoI will become public knowledge. Consequently personal information is usually kept secret.Of course Ministers should be able to prepare to answer whatever supplementary questions may arise from FoI information. To do that they are as entitled as anyone else to know of the information requested. I presume that also applies to information supplied by Local Government, NHS Trusts, Schools and all other public bodies.The FoI is a good tool, and more honest and open than clandestine "leaks". Why were Conservatives so against it? Wed 10 Dec 2008 17:07:13 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html?page=5#comment2 Seemingly the police have not visited the BBC nor arrested anyone there. So in future, all MP's who receive any "leaked" information need to say in their defence is that the it must have been " inadvertent". Wed 10 Dec 2008 16:23:46 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html?page=2#comment1 This just reinforces the issues within the Home Office that resulted in a police investigation. Instead of mking, as the govt should have done, information public that we havea right to know. An opposition MP faces a criminal investigation for doing his job. Wed 10 Dec 2008 15:43:43 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/12/ministers_approve_foi_answers.html?page=0#comment0 Another sign that our Civil Service is currently far too politicised. Wed 10 Dec 2008 15:30:58 GMT+1