Probe Into Cost Of Freedom Of Information

[ian rush 163]

The cost being quoted is probably not just in relation to the Commissioner's Office itself but may be the 'hidden' cost of each Department employing research and compliance staff to deal with these requests in sourcing material, collating, and cross-checking before it goes through checks on data protection, commercial sensitivity, what is actually information c.f opinion - see pages 5 - 8 of the current Code for the current exemptions http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/cso/codeofpractice.pdf.

 

The Act will give the Code a statutory framework and put it on a formalised footing; rather than it just being a Code.

However, as far as I can see, it doesn't give a right to documents per se. It still gives a right just to facts.

 

Tony Blair said it is the worst thing he did in office (or at least recognises he did, assuming he is still blind on Iraq).

 

It would be interesting to know what the cost of the current Code is (albeit it is not 'law') c.f (for example) the cost of the questions put by the Honourable Members.

[Erco 23]

TBH compared to the amount of money the IOM Gov pisses away each year £1m is small potatoes. Defending itself from legal challenges & putting right what is wrong is where the real cost lies.

[Monkey boy 2,624]

If per chance a FOI bill were to be approved would the freedom of info be retrospective.

No I'm fairly sure it won't be.

[hissingsid 3,675]

This is a disgusting state of affairs, free as Mount Rule,lol. I do think a lot of people are picking up the baton on this one though and if a petition was started it would be well supported, the natives are definately angry. As for cost the longer it takes to get this Act the more it is going to cost, and of course there is the cost of the probe to be added on. Mr Bell should be asked to resign he is not fit for purpose.

[carbon selector 685]

Tony Blair said it is the worst thing he did in office (or at least recognises he did, assuming he is still blind on Iraq).

A good reason that it must be a good thing.

 

It would be interesting to know what the cost of the current Code is (albeit it is not 'law') c.f (for example) the cost of the questions put by the Honourable Members.

A comparison has been made quite recently, but a similar question was asked in 2001:

http://www.tynwald.org.im/papers/hansards/2000-2001/th24042001.pdf#page=29

In response to a similar question in the House of Keys in 1993, the Chief Minister

indicated that the best guesstimate would indicate an average cost of between £100 and

£150. Taking the effect of inflation into account, those figures could be increased to £120 to

£180.

[mal48 62]

Even if it were to cost £1 Million a year to administer, 1/800th of the annual budget spend is nothing compared to what this will potentially identify and save in future.

 

And what about the likes of the Govt staff currently dealing with the 2011 census, they'll be freed up next year.

 

I think if this does not go through and become law, many people will start getting off their arses to petition for this, and at the same time for an elected upper house. Me included.

 

Give us our accountable democracy.

These staff will all be on overtime shredding all the information the government dont want us to learn of if the FoI were ever to be implemented. For years the government dumped all the redundant paperwork, such as old income tax returns etc., down the mine shaft up at Snuff the Wind.

[Freya Q 13]

I believe it is 16 years since the issue of Freedom of Information was raised.

 

My sources tell me David Cretney was the original champion and credible submissions were made by several organistions in society.

As usual, as you might expect, the best submissions came from the lead Nationalist organisation, MecVannin.

Amazingly its still possible to find material on line relating to Mec Vannin's submission http://www.mecvannin...nformation.html

 

I would have thought 16 years would have been adequate time for the Manx Government to determine the likely costs of FOI.

Clearly the new Chief Minister is talking a load of tosh.

Edited November 8, 2011 by Freya Q

[asitis 5,435]

No I agree with the Chief Minister on this one, the costs will be too high.............. for those the act would expose, if the past 20yrs were fully open to public independent scrutiny then we would need to build another facility at Jurby ! very costly IMO. This isn't going to happen in any meaningful format is it !

[%age 1]

Plus, to be fair, the new Chief Minister is hardly whiter than whiter and wouldn't want people delving deeper (see Liberal Vannin Chief Minister nomination speech for details eg re Mount Murray)

Edited November 9, 2011 by %age

[prism10 108]

Beware of those who complain of the costs of FOI requests as they do in the UK. Those who complain the loudest have ulterior motives, ie something to hide.

[EORH 587]

Tony Blair said it is the worst thing he did in office (or at least recognises he did, assuming he is still blind on Iraq).

A good reason that it must be a good thing.

 

It would be interesting to know what the cost of the current Code is (albeit it is not 'law') c.f (for example) the cost of the questions put by the Honourable Members.

A comparison has been made quite recently, but a similar question was asked in 2001:

http://www.tynwald.o...001.pdf#page=29

In response to a similar question in the House of Keys in 1993, the Chief Minister

indicated that the best guesstimate would indicate an average cost of between £100 and

£150. Taking the effect of inflation into account, those figures could be increased to £120 to

£180.

 

Remember most of the questions asked in either house by the members are just a publicity forum,they already know what the answers are before hand,just before election time there is a flurry of questions on any subject under the sun,it get's them in the public eye.

The FOI act is for the benefit of the public to ask questions,not MHKs,so looking at costs,part of it is Civil Servants who are supposed to get the info for people will be getting paid their salaries anyway,whether they are asked to do anything or not,so the costs must be over-inflated.

[manshimajin 619]

If we follow the UK it would be interesting to see what use the media would make of FOI - to do so needs investigative journalists which we do not seem to have. We are probably too closed a society for the media to push the bounds of FOI.

 

The other thing I wonder is whether people would need some independent guidance about how to frame questions in a way that would extract the maximum relevant information?

[manxman8180 387]

In fairness they did uncover the scandal about how much they spent on water coolers, or something like that..........

[manx viking 4]

I believe it is 16 years since the issue of Freedom of Information was raised.

 

My sources tell me David Cretney was the original champion and credible submissions were made by several organistions in society.

As usual, as you might expect, the best submissions came from the lead Nationalist organisation, MecVannin.

Amazingly its still possible to find material on line relating to Mec Vannin's submission http://www.mecvannin...nformation.html

 

I would have thought 16 years would have been adequate time for the Manx Government to determine the likely costs of FOI.

Clearly the new Chief Minister is talking a load of tosh.

 

Freedom of Information would reveal exactly - was has the Government been doing for the last 16 years of progressing Freedom of Information?

How many electorate asked their prospective Keys candidates - what they were willing to do to progress FoI if they were elected?

In fact - how many electorate are now asking their MHK's what they are doing to progress FoI?

[manx viking 4]

There will never be a FoI until all tracks have been covered.

One notion of FoI is to create transparency, increase scrutiny and uncover corruption.

There is still alot of work to do by IOM Government before FoI can be introduced into the Isle of Man.