The Freedom of Information Act came into force ten years ago today. GAVIN AITCHISON looks at how it has given the public and the media unique access to official information.

CAMPAIGNERS who fought to make public authorities more accountable are today celebrating the tenth anniversary of landmark legislation - but say it risks being undermined.

The Freedom of Information Act became law on January 1, 2005, giving the public unprecedented access to public documents.

Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for FOI, said: “The Act has been responsible for a new generation of official data showing where standards of public services are falling short, targets are not being met, regulators are failing to keep up, policies are not having the promised effect, reckless spending is tolerated and politicians say in private what they publicly deny.”

But he said authorities’ increasing use of private contractors had created a loophole, as such firms are exempt from the Act. The Campaign says the Government should close the loophole.
 

The FOIA has enabled campaigners, journalists and members of the public to obtain information they would otherwise never have seen. Here are a selection of revelations - ten from York, and five from around the UK.
 

York Press: Secret file contains the fate of Wirral's under-threat libraries

• In 2005, City of York Council was considering moving the Arc Light homeless hostel to Shipton Street in Clifton. Under the FOIA, we obtained documents that would otherwise have been secret, which revealed that senior councillors and officials had been discussing the idea five months before they told local residents.

York Press: Fingerprint scanner at bar is met with suspicion
• Fingerprint scanners are widespread in schools today. But ten years ago, there was controversy around their security and potential privacy risks. In 2007, information obtained under the Act revealed 12 York schools were using such scanners in libraries or canteens, including two that had not told parents.

After our story, those schools wrote to parents to explain the system, and local politicians lobbied the Government for clear guidance, which was issued later that year.

 

York Press: Fulford Road police station, in York
• In 2011, North Yorkshire Police merged two control rooms. We were told the move had not gone smoothly and that people were waiting far too long for calls to be answered. The force would not give any detail about the problems - but under the FOIA, we were able to reveal that the force was taking twice as long to answer 999 calls as 12 months earlier. Response times subsequently improved.

 

York Press: Looking down on York’s Community Stadium
• In 2010/11, City of York Council paid a PR consultant, Jim Knight, to help present the case for its “community stadium”

project. Such expenditure was criticised by opposition councillors but the council would not detail his involvement. Through the Act, we were able to show how many days work he had done for the council, and what his remit was. The council subsequently confirmed it would spend no more public money on Mr Knight’s services.

 

York Press:
• In 2008, the city council was embroiled in a costly crisis, when its controversial plans for a new HQ at Hungate unravelled. Amid claim and counter-claim, The Press used the FOIA to obtain secret council papers, including an internal memo from the council’s conservation architect warning even before the proposals were tabled that the building was inappropriate; and correspondence showing English Heritage had indicated support for the scheme before performing a late U-turn - information York residents would never otherwise have been able to see.

 

York Press:
• In 2008, City of York Council hired external consultants to advise them on a cost-cutting programme - but a dispute meant the consultants walked off the job before it was finished. The then council leader Andrew Waller had declared they would be paid only if they achieved savings but under the FOIA, we were able to reveal they had been paid £600,000.

In 2011, using the FOIA, we were able to prove they had then been paid a further £211,000 of public money to settle a legal dispute.

 

York Press: North Yorkshire Police - zxc
• In 2010, we were told of concerns over data management at North Yorkshire Police, particularly over suggestions that the force was harvesting callers’ information for its database.

After a lengthy wrangle, we were able to reveal that tens of thousands of people who had never been accused, nor suspected, of an offence were being kept on the force’s database; and that police staff had been told to routinely ask callers for their ethnicity and date of birth, as well as their contact details, so they could be added to the database. Privacy campaigners were outraged, but police said the practice was routine and defended their policies.
 

York Press: OFF LIMITS: The new system for Lendal Bridge, York

• Few moves have sparked such controversy in York in recent years as the Lendal Bridge restrictions in 2013/14. Local media had to rely heavily on the Freedom of Information Act to obtain detailed information about the project and what went wrong.

Emails released after media requests made several stark revelations, including internal council concerns that the move did nothing to improve air quality; that 75 per cent of people surveyed felt the move had had a negative impact on York; and that then council leader James Alexander was keen to avoid the scheme looking “attached” to himself or Cllr Dave Merrett personally. The Press is awaiting an appeal ruling over the release of the council’s legal advice on the issue.

 

York Press: Laptops are among the items stolen from Southend Hospital
• In 2008, a source told us several council laptops had been stolen.

The Act enabled us to ascertain that 12 had been stolen and to reveal that confidential data was on some of the machines. A few weeks later, the council announced it was to improve security on its computers.

 

York Press:
• The 1988 Nestlé-Rowntree takeover upset many York residents, and there was deepseated concern over how the Thatcher Government handled the issue. We used the FOIA to obtain letters between the Government and Rowntree bosses and then in 2013 became the first regional newspaper to overturn a Cabinet Office FOIA decision, after two judges ruled in our favour.

We revealed Cabinet minutes years sooner than would otherwise have been possible, and revealed for the first time a cabinet split over whether the takeover should have been referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

Experts said the judges’ decision could set a precedent for the early release of many more 1980s Government files.

 

Nationally....
• More than 300 NHS trusts failed to comply with at least one Patient Safety Alert in 2010, the charity Action Against Medical Accidents discovered.


• Many home visits to elderly and vulnerable social care clients last no more than 15 minutes, the trade union Unison discovered in 2013, prompting a national storm over the quality of care.


• 280,000 sick patients were made to wait for more than half an hour in ambulances outside hospitals due to staff or bed shortages in 2013.14, The Daily Telegraph discovered in August.


• Twenty councils used or planned to use lie detectors to catch benefit fraudsters, despite the Government deeming the tests unreliable, The Guardian reported last March.


• More than a third of people with degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis had their benefits cut, as the Government claimed they could recover enough to look for work, The Independent revealed in October.