Peter Bradwell
Researcher
Peter Bradwell is a researcher at Demos. He is interested in the ways that information and knowledge is shared between people, and between people and government...
"foi"
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- More FOIbles... The Freedom of Information and Open Government Blog picked up yesterday on an early day motion in the commons. It's supportive of the Constitutional Affairs Committee's report which argues against the need to alter the charging mechanisms in the FOI act.There seem to be indications that the government is considering making it easier to refuse requests on costs grounds. As we've mentioned here on this blog, that seems an unfortunate and retrograde step and it's difficult to see the public... from : petebradwell 12th October 2006
- What price free information? Information wants to be free? Well somebody, apparently, is paying over the odds to oblige.Frontier Economics were commissioned by the DCA to carry out a study into the costs of the FOI Act for government and the public sector. The remit of the study is pretty interesting in the link it makes between the first and second stated aim:1. The costs of delivering FOI, alongside an analysis of the key cost drivers2. An examination of the options for changes to the charging regimeIs a study on which... from : petebradwell 23rd October 2006
- Secure in the knowledge... Not so much a friday rant, as conspiratorial speculation. Much talk today about the end of a fraud investigation into the Saudi / BAE arms deal.I wonder about the reasons given for the cessation of the investigation; it's significant that 'national security' and international relations were cited. That these reasons were given makes it a little more unlikely that we'll find out exactly why the decision was made - because those are exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act that are pretty... from : petebradwell 15th December 2006
- The real meaning of christmas, I mean FOI "On 16 October 2006 the Department for Constitutional Affairs published the independent review of the impact of the Freedom of Information Act." Or so the DCA's new consultation paper on proposed changes to the FOI Act claims. They undeniably published a review. Claiming that it's a review of the impact, however, feels a little like an expansion of the truth consistent with festive levels of generosity. The review, by Frontier Economics, looked at the cost - and solutions for saving money... from : petebradwell 21st December 2006
- Good transparency cop, bad transparency cop At the risk of becoming a bit of a one trick blog pony, I picked up today on yet more government information developments. This is the exciting news that the Statute Law Database - a sort of bank of UK legislation - is avaliable free online. Pretty good news. But I'm pretty sceptical about generalising about the government's approach to information at the moment. from : petebradwell 12th January 2007
- Whose House? The 'open access' crowd - those loosely connected fellows who care about how easy it is to get hold of 'official' information - have been getting hot under the collar these past months over some really damaging proposed changes to the Freedom of Information Act. And why not - the attitude from government towards public debate about such important changes has been pretty poor.But from seemingly nowhere this private members bill has trotted into play. It's aim is to exempt an MPs correspondence... from : petebradwell 31st January 2007
- Trust...dialogue...transparency Reading the Freedom of Information blog today you might come across a couple of interesting quotes. One of them is from Tony Blair who was talking, broadly, about freedom of information in the context of trust in politics: "...the question for us is how do you then get this more sophisticated and profound dialogue about politics today and political issues...' from : petebradwell 18th April 2007
- FOI does its job shock The Information Commissioner Richard Thomas yesterday ordered the release of minutes from the Cabinet meetings where military action against Iraq was discussed. Was he right? As a advocate of more rigorous application of freedom of information law and principles, I would argue yes, and that this is great news. from : petebradwell 27th February 2008