It may seem a dry topic but this is a absolutely vital topic for anyone wanting to hold the authrities to account and ensure honesty and transparency. You may well be able to think of a number of issues locally where the effective use of FoIs may well be useful.
This is is the invitation from Preston Community Library
An Evening with Martin Rosenbaum
Tuesday 27th June 7pm-9.30pm.
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Dear All,
We would like to invite you to join us for an evening with
journalist Martin Rosenbaum, who will be talking about his new
book Freedom of Information: A practical guidebook. Until
recently Martin was an executive producer in the BBC's political
programmes department, and for sixteen years was BBC News's leading
specialist in freedom of information. The book is a comprehensive and
up-to-date guide to the UK's freedom of information legislation, and
will be an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to be better
informed about the activities of government, councils and the public
sector. Refreshments available.
Parking and Finding Us: It is not an event day , but it is
better to park along Preston Road, on the left as you go uphill towards
Wembley. A map of where we are is below, with directions and
details of buses.
With Regards,
Philip Bromberg,
Preston Community Library
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I won't be able to attend this talk myself, but would recommend that anyone interested in trying to hold local Councils, such as Brent, to account should try to attend if they can.
ReplyDeleteBrent Council, despite the commitments in its Constitution, is NOT transparent in what it does, supposedly on behalf of us (the citizens who pay our Council Tax in return for the services it provides).
I have had to use Freedom of Information Act requests a number of times to find out detailed information which Council Officers (and sometimes Cabinet members) would prefer stayed hidden.
In the next few days I hope that Martin will be able to publish another couple of guest posts from me, which will feature information obtained under FoIs (this time from the Greater London Authority) which show evidence of how Brent Council Officers misled the GLA into granting extra funding for a proposed housing scheme.