Archive for freedom of information act
There is a very interesting blog on the UK Human Rights blog about ruling that in some cases number of school teachers in specified towns who had been investigated, cautioned and charged under the Sexual Offences Act must be revealed.
In Colleen Smith v IC and Devon & Cornwall Constabulary (EA/2011/0006), the requester asked for information on the number of school teachers in specified towns who had been investigated, cautioned and charged under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 between January 2005 and November 2007. The Constabulary eventually relied on the personal data at section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act ...
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According to an article on the Register (here) over 900 police staff caught misusing databases
More than 900 police personnel were disciplined for unlawful data protection practices in the past three years, privacy campaigners have said.
Figures released by 36 police forces in England and Wales under freedom of information (FOI) requests by Big Brother Watch (BBW) stated that 904 police officers and civilian employees were disciplined for offences under the Data Protection Act in the three years up to 1 June 2011.
Under the Act organisations that are responsible for holding personal ...
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New plans to extend the scope of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) to open up government and other bodies to public scrutiny, were unveiled by the Ministry of Justice today.
The changes will make it easier for people to use FOI to find and use information about the public bodies they rely on and their taxes pay for, by:
increasing the number of organisations to which FOI requests can be made, bringing in bodies such as the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Financial Services Ombudsman, and higher education admissions body UCAS; and also ...
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The Government have recently issued a new draft Statutory Instrument regarding compliance times for FOIA requests made to school Academies
The Regulations modify the period within which proprietors of Academies must respond to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The proprietor of an Academy must comply with the request within twenty working days of the date of receipt, disregarding any working day which, in relation to the Academy, is not a school day, or within sixty working days following the date of receipt, whichever is the sooner.
Proprietors of Academies are therefore subject ...
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Police forces can keep a record of spent convictions on a single central database without breaking data protection laws, the Court of Appeals has said. Police would have had to delete a million records from their system if they had lost.
The Court reversed orders of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Information Tribunal, both of which said that the retention of records was in breach of the principles of the Data Protection Act (DPA) in five cases involving the records of old minor convictions.
Details of convictions are made available to some organisations when they perform a criminal records check.
The ...
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In Australia the Easling case rumbles on. Michael Atkinson the State Attorney General comes under attack for libelous comments. View the latest spat on YouTube here
Transcipt of Parliamentary debate which led to the above response on YouTube.
STATUTES AMENDMENT (VICTIMS OF CRIME) BILL
Consideration in committee of the Legislative Council’s amendments.
The Hon. I.F. EVANS: I just want to make some comments in relation to this matter about FOI’ing [Freedom of Information requests] and victims of crime because it does raise the interesting question in relation to who becomes the victim. The Attorney is aware in his role as acting minister for families ...
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Creating a database of the 11million adults who work with children could ruin the lives of innocent people, the privacy watchdog warns today.
Richard Thomas, who is stepping down after more than six years as Britain’s first Information Commissioner, says he has serious concerns about the system being launched in October for the Independent Safeguarding Authority.
The ISA computer will contain detailed files on all the adults who work with children, whether professionally or as volunteers.
But it will not only record criminal convictions, but also any so-called soft intelligence on individuals – which could include unfounded allegations, rumours or gossip passed to ...
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There have been a number of reports in the Press regarding recently published research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the use of Government Databases. The document Database State reviews a number of Government databases and ranks them according to whether or not, in the opinion of the authors, they meet existing legislative safeguards.
There is a very useful section on databases used in the criminal justice including those used by the police and prison service which raises a number of concern over legality, privacy and consent.
There is some very useful analysis of the report and background information in the:-
Guardian
Independent
BBC
Our attention has also been drawn ...
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We are grateful to NFPS (National Federation for Personal Safety) for bringing this article to our attention. This story also appears in the Daily Mail
A teacher who won £250,000 compensation after a pupil tried to strangle him has criticised the apparent ‘can’t touch’ culture that exists in schools after other teaching staff initially refused to intervene to assist him.
The 50 year-old teacher, Colin Adams, was attacked by a 12 year-old boy who knocked Mr Adams to the floor before punching and kicking him and throttling him with his hands around Mr. Adams’ neck.
The assault occurred because the boy had been misbehaving ...
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Journalism students at Strathclyde University, in Glasgow, have set up their own, local branch of an international organisation that seeks the release from prison of people who have been wrongfully convicted.
The Innocence Project was set up the USA in 1992 and the students’ decision to set up their own branch has been prompted partly by the investigative journalism opportunities afforded by possible miscarriages of justice.
They are being guided by lecturer and journalist, Eamonn O’Neill, who has been personally involved in a number of high-profile TV and writing projects concerning prisoners who are innocent.
Says O’Neill: “The Innocence Project is open to ...
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There has been an 86% increase in the number of teachers suspended on full pay in the UK over claims of pupil mistreatment, the BBC has learned.
The Donal McIntyre programme on BBC Radio 5 Live obtained details from Freedom of Information requests to all 204 local authorities in the UK.
Among the 40% of councils responding, the numbers suspensions rose from 168 in 2003-04 to 314 in 2007-08.
Teachers’ unions say there has been a rise in false allegations.
The councils responding said almost £14.5 million was paid out in salaries for those suspended during the same period of time.
But the total ...
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According to a report in the Daily Mail park wardens have been ordered to stop and interrogate anyone who is not accompanied by children.
The visitors who are quizzed have to explain their presence and risk being thrown out or reported to police if their answers are not satisfactory.
The policy has been introduced at Telford Town Park in Shropshire. The council which manages the 420-acre area says it is a ‘commonsense approach’ aimed at safeguarding children.
But park users accused it of ‘authoritarian madness’ and said the ruling risked panicking parents about the dangers faced from potential paedophiles.
The policy came to light ...
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According to a report in the Essex Gazette the number of false rape allegations has fallen in the Tendring district.
In 2002, almost one third of all rapes reported to police in the district were later revealed not to have been offences – 11 out of 32.
Figures for 2007 reveal that while the number of reported rapes stayed almost the same at 31, there was a marked reduction in the number of false allegations, to seven.
This trend is echoed throughout the county, with Colchester last year recording 48 reported rapes of which nine were false, compared to 45 reports of which 15 ...
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With ID fraud on the rise, the assumption is you’ll lose money which can be claimed back. But Simon Bunce lost his job, and his father cut off contact, when he was arrested after an ID fraudster used his credit card details on a child porn website. Simon Bunce used to be a keen internet shopper, delighted to escape the hordes and have goods delivered to his door. Wary of fly-by-night operators, he bought only from big name retailers with secure websites. But then, four years ago, he was astonished to find himself embroiled in Operation Ore, the UK’s largest ...
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Increasing allegations about misconduct by teachers are putting potential new recruits off the profession, a campaign group claimed today. Forty-six Wearside and County Durham school staff have been suspended from work in the past three years, according to figures obtained by the Echo. However, only 17 were disciplined or lost their job, with three cases still ongoing.Pressure group F.A.C.T. (Falsely Accused Teachers and Carers), said increasing numbers of misconduct allegations nationally, partly fuelled by a compensation culture, were seriously harming the profession.In Sunderland, 11 school employees have been suspended in the past three years, with three dismissed, three disciplined and ...
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Malicious schoolchildren are ruining teachers’ careers by making false sex abuse allegations, Wales’ top teaching union has claimed.
The National Union of Teachers Cymru says local authorities are too readily accepting pupils’ accusations without properly looking into the complaints before referring them for investigation.
What is more, the body believes ‘clued-up’ kids are more aware of their rights than ever, which makes it all too easy for disruptive students to get teachers into trouble.
The picture is so bad, the Acting Children’s Commissioner for Wales is meeting police and Assembly officials in the next few weeks to discuss flaws in the system.
Around 70 ...
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The following article by Rhodri Evans appeared in the South Wales Echo on 7th July 2007At least two pupils a week are accusing their teachers of assault, a special report by the Echo has revealed.But despite the claims, there has been insufficient evidence to convict a single teacher.One falsely accused teacher said today that he had been driven to the brink of suicide.A total of 83 allegations were made by pupils in primary, secondary and special schools in South Wales during the past academic year.Of the completed investigations, no further action was taken by police or the local education authorities ...
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More than 160 adults who claim they were abused in a sex scandal that rocked children’s homes in South Wales have been paid a total of £3m in compensation.
Around £1m of this has been paid to former residents of homes or approved schools in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, an Echo investigation has revealed.
The compensation was paid out following Operation Goldfinch, a police inquiry into claims of abuse of children in care including approved schools and residential homes 20 and 30 years ago.
Many of the claims were made by solicitors as part of a group litigation.
The figures have not ...
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Following a request by FACT for information under the Freedom of Information Act the Criminal Records Bureau have released the following statistical information.
Returns submitted to employers/prospective employers
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005
Subject has no criminal conviction.
1,375,026
2,177,441
2,238,650
Subject has criminal record (see note 1)
62,697
107,627
125,902
Subject has no criminal record but has been the subject of allegations of alleged misconduct which falls short of a conviction (see note 2)
6,316
10,132
11,140
Explanatory Notes:
Note 1
These figures relate to convictions, cautions, reprimands, and warnings held on the CRB extract of the Police National Computer
Note 2
The figures show returns where the subject has no criminal record but has been the subject of allegations of misconduct which falls ...
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On 21st November 2005 Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby, Lab) asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what upgrades are being made to the hardware and software elements of the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s IT system. Fiona Mactaggart (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office) repliedThe Commission is currently engaged in a project to implement an electronic records management system. This will enable it to discharge its duties under the Public Records Act 1958, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Office of Criminal Justice Reform has also recently agreed additional funding to maintain and approve the Criminal ...
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This item was first published on the FACT website on 1st January 2005Happy New Year. Today also sees the implementation the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This provides a useful opportunity for F.A.C.T. to use the Act to serve the interest of its members. F.A.C.T. is therefore interested is setting up a special interest group regarding access to information both at a national and a local government level. If you have an interest in this are please contact the Secretary You can obtain more information about the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 on the Information ...
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Open government: here are a few things you need to know …Richard Morrison CRY freedom! Lift high the trusty banner of truth. Tear down the barricades of Whitehall secrecy and Westminster obfuscation. Why? Because in two days’ time we enter a brave new world. Saturday is the glad dawn when Britain’s glorious new Freedom of Information Act comes into effect. Yes, I know it was promised before the 1997 election and passed by Parliament more than four years ago. But you can’t hurry a big thing like open government, you know. Just ask our friends in North Korea. It’s only ...
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