Contents
Volume 3, Issue 1

September/October 2006

• FOI/EIR – differences resolved?
• OPSI expects higher standard ‘re-use’
• FOI crisis in Australia
• Consultancy declared a ‘public authority’ under EIRs

• Pernod v OFT – FOIA is trumped by the Enterprise Act – Gordon Christian and Simon Holmes, SJ Berwin
• The Vauxhall Tower decision – opening up submissions to Ministers – Damien Welfare, 2-3 Gray’s Inn Square
• Operating a robust FOI regime – decisions of the Scottish Information Commissioner worth knowing – Hazel Moffat, DLA Piper
• Uncomfortable disclosures – identity cards – Jimmy Desai, Tarlo Lyons
• Book review – Freedom of Information handbook – Jimmy Desai, Tarlo Lyons

• Constitutional Affairs Committee critiques FOI
• Publication schemes – ICO publishes new ‘policy’
• Fire at two records storage facilities – coincidence?
• Brown forced to reveal pensions information
• Records management ‘must be improved’

• Focus on enforcement – stopping public authorities from releasing information – Jeremy Ison, Clifford Chance
• The vexed question of vexatious requests – Marcus Turle, Field Fisher Waterhouse
• ‘A new chapter in openness’ – do the statistics agree? – Benjamin Beabey, Farrer & Co
• The National Archives workbook – Kevin Smith, The National Archives
• Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – one year on – David Maldon, ITI Scotland

• Vexatious Requests, the Commissioner's first decision – Julia Apostle, Financial Times
• Understanding the Environmental Information Regulations – Damien Welfare, 2-3 Gray's Inn Square
• The FOI Act Exemptions Part VI – Hazel Grant and John Pullicino, Bird & Bird
• FOI Manual by Marcus Turle, Book Review – Usha Jagessar, DLA Piper

Articles

• Confidentiality and Commercial Interest, the verdict so far – Claire Walker, Olswang
• Ten things you need to know about the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations – Carolyn Bigg, Charles Russell
• Focus on Enforcement – Case Handling by the Information Tribunal – Jeremy Ison, Clifford Chance
• Electronic Records Management Part VI – Digital Preservation – Kelvin Smith, The National Archives

• FOI – fees may be imposed
• Information Tribunal pushes boundaries in its first decisions
• FOI leads to better food standards
• Central Government – trends in FOI requests
• Backlog at Commissioner's office
• Education secretary ordered to disclose records

• Information Tribunal – the First Five Cases – Dan Tench, Olswang
• The FOI Act Exemptions Part V – Hazel Grant, Bird & Bird
• Electronic Records Management Part V –Digital Preservation – Kelvin Smith, The National Archives
• Use of Council Employee Data for Direct Marketing – Usha Jagessar, DLA Piper

• Focus on Enforcement – the Information Commissioner's Approach to Case Handling – Jeremy Ison, Clifford Chance
• Requesting Information on the Deceased – Usha Jagessar, DLA Piper
• Electronic Records Management Part IV – File Plan Structure – Kelvin Smith, The National Archives

• BBC spends over £400,000 on FOI compliance
• Complaints – the state of play
• Companies using agencies to seek information
• New NHS code on records management proposed
• Latest on Information Fair Trader Scheme
• New German FOI law
• Zambia demands FOI law
• Scots delight in making FOI requests

• Electronic Records Management Part III – Evaluation and Appraisa – Kelvin Smith, The National Archives
• Commercial Interests – the Shawcross Decision – Nicolas Gray, Herbert Smith
• FOI and Commercial Litigation – Richard Grandison and Lisette Aguilar, Slaughter and May
• Commercial Withholding under FOI law – David Mallon, ITI Scotland

• Electronic Records Management Part II – Managing records on LAN – Kelvin Smith, The National Archives
• The FOI Act Exemptions Part IV – Hazel Grant and Emily Unwin, Bird & Bird
• Statutory Prohibitions – opportunities missed – Usha Jagessar and Julia Apostle, DLA Piper
• The Re-use of Public Sector Information – Anna-Marie Harty and Brian Jones, Herbert Smith

• FOI to be extended to private companies after election
• Requests top 8,000 in first two months of new law
• Iraq invasion – information disclosure
• Local authority decisions
• FOI Select Committee report – the government's response
• Press Complaints Commission escapes FOI
• Information Commissioner's role clarified
• EIR Code and fee guidance

• Could Copyright be an Obstacle to an Effective FOI Regime? – Julia Apostle and Mark Lawry, DLA Piper
• S.36 FOI Act and the Governmental Goldfish Bowl – Rosalind Ashcroft, Beachcroft Wansbroughs
• The Impact of FOI Laws on Academic Research – Susan Calman and David Gourlay, Dundas & Wilson

• FOI Act in force
• Government accused of mass document destruction
• VAT on FOI requests
• Utilities – need to check information disclosure
• PSI implementation imminent
• Environmental Information Regulations published
• Scottish FOI decision
• Doctors' performance to be exposed

• Disclosures of Information by Business Regulators – John O'Hara, Denton Wilde Sapte and Marcus Turle, Field Fisher Waterhouse
• FOI Act Exemptions Part II – Hazel Grant and Rachel Fetches, Bird & Bird
• The Law of Freedom of Information by John Macdonald and Clive H Jones, book review
• The Realities of FOI, a Canadian Perspective – Professor Alasdair Roberts, Campbell Public Affairs Institute