'Dire realities' of London's temporary accommodation crisis exposed
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the capital's councils show that one family with children has been living in TA in Croydon since 1998. The same is true of another family with children in Brent since 2000. Meanwhile, some single-person households have been staying in TA even longer, including one person in Haringey who has been officially homeless since at least 1983 - a period of more than 40 years.
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The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
What happened with Scottish Government WhatsApp messages?
Here's what you need to know. What happened with government WhatsApp messages? WhatsApp messages pertaining to government business are discoverable via Freedom of Information. This was something that the Scottish Government was aware of during the Covid pandemic. Read More: The UK Covid inquiry heard evidence that Professor Jason Leitch, the national clinical director during the period, had reminded ministers of the fact and told them: "WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual". Ken Thomson, who was director general for strategy and external affairs under Ms Sturgeon, was found to have written in a civil servant WhatsApp group: 'Just to remind you (seriously) this is discoverable under FOI. Know where the 'clear chat' button is.' He added: 'Plausible deniability are my middle names. Now clear it again.' Did ministers delete them? They did. In August 2021, then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said all communications made during the Covid pandemic would be made available to the public inquiry including "emails, WhatsApps, private emails". She admitted at the inquiry last year she had deleted the messages, as had her deputy John Swinney. Her successor, Humza Yousaf, later issued an apology and said there was "no excuse" for the communications having been erased. Boris Johnson, who was the UK Prime Minister at the time, also faced criticism after around 5,000 messages went missing. (Image: PA) What would the proposed law change do? The current Freedom of Information (Scotland) act came into force in 2005. The proposed bill would change the act to introduce penalties for the destruction of material that could be subject to public scrutiny. If done deliberately or recklessly, even before a request is made, deletion would be a criminal offence. IT would also remove a power from the First Minister - which has never been used - which allows him or her to override FOI rulings made by the Scottish Information Commissioner. What has been said? Ms Clark said: "It is completely unacceptable for politicians and officials to wipe WhatsApps, texts and other messages about the work of government and public bodies. "Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney still have very serious questions to answer about the disappearance of all of their WhatsApp messages about the SNP's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. 'Their explanations about the unavailability of these messages is simply not good enough given the lives lost and the catastrophic decision to admit infected patients into care homes at the height of the outbreak. "Nicola Sturgeon, in particular, has offered up remarkably similar excuses to Boris Johnson when failing to provide WhatsApp messages from her phone to the Covid public inquiry. " David Hamilton, the Scottish Information Commissioner, welcomed the Bill and said it was time to modernise FOI for the digital age. 'In the 20 years since it was introduced, FOI has had a big impact, with more than 1.4 million requests made to Scotland's public bodies,' he said. 'After 20 years though, it is undoubtedly time for a refresh — not least because there have been massive changes in both the way we access information and the way public bodies deliver their services.' The Scottish Government said: "Scotland has the most open and far-reaching Freedom of Information legislation in the UK. As this Member's Bill has now been introduced, it will be scrutinised by Parliament and we will consider its detail.'
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
Labour MSP's bid to criminalise wiping government WhatsApps
Ms Clark's Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill would overhaul the country's two-decade-old FOI laws and introduce penalties for the destruction of material that could be subject to public scrutiny. READ MORE 'It is completely unacceptable for politicians and officials to wipe WhatsApps, texts and other messages about the work of government and public bodies,' the West of Scotland MSP said. 'Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney still have very serious questions to answer about the disappearance of all of their WhatsApp messages about the SNP's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. 'Their explanations about the unavailability of these messages is simply not good enough given the lives lost and the catastrophic decision to admit infected patients into care homes at the height of the outbreak. "Nicola Sturgeon, in particular, has offered up remarkably similar excuses to Boris Johnson when failing to provide WhatsApp messages from her phone to the Covid public inquiry. " The Member's Bill proposes sweeping reforms, including the removal of the First Minister's power to override Freedom Of Information (FOI) rulings made by the Scottish Information Commissioner — a power that has never been used but has long been criticised by transparency campaigners. Ms Clark said her proposals would address what she claimed as a long-standing culture of secrecy in government, particularly under the SNP. The legislation would also make clear that deleting messages or documents that could be subject to FOI requests — even before a request is made — would be a criminal offence if done deliberately or recklessly. 'The SNP has spent nearly 20 years attempting to evade freedom of information requests from the public and journalists,' she said. 'Nicola Sturgeon's and John Swinney's disappearing WhatsApp messages speak volumes about their party's contempt for the public's right to know about what were quite literally life-and-death decisions made by the government. 'Scotland's freedom of information laws urgently need to be tightened up and extended to cover any area that involves the use of taxpayers' money.' David Hamilton, the Scottish Information Commissioner, welcomed the Bill and said it was time to modernise FOI for the digital age. 'In the 20 years since it was introduced, FOI has had a big impact, with more than 1.4 million requests made to Scotland's public bodies,' he said. 'After 20 years though, it is undoubtedly time for a refresh — not least because there have been massive changes in both the way we access information and the way public bodies deliver their services.' He said the current system had failed to keep pace with how decisions are made and information is shared — particularly when services are delivered by third parties or decisions are taken through informal communications such as WhatsApp. Nicola Sturgeon giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry (Image: PA) The inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic heard how both Ms Sturgeon and Mr Swinney failed to retain messages that might have shed light on key decisions taken at the height of the crisis. Ms Sturgeon has said she had 'nothing to hide' but admitted under questioning that she had deleted the messages herself, citing long-standing advice not to retain informal communications on insecure devices. Appearing before the inquiry last year, she said: 'In line with the advice I'd always been given since my first day in government probably was not to retain conversations like that on a phone that could be lost or stolen and therefore not secure.' Asked directly whether she had deleted her WhatsApp messages, she replied: 'Yes.' That was despite a commitment in 2021 that all correspondence would be handed over to any future inquiry, including WhatsApps and private emails. READ MORE Ken Thomson, who was director general for strategy and external affairs under Ms Sturgeon, was found to have written in a civil servant WhatsApp group: 'Just to remind you (seriously) this is discoverable under FOI. Know where the 'clear chat' button is.' He added: 'Plausible deniability are my middle names. Now clear it again.' In evidence to the inquiry, Mr Thomson denied that there had been a culture of evasion and insisted the remarks were light-hearted. A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: 'Scotland has the most open and far-reaching Freedom of Information legislation in the UK. As this Member's Bill has now been introduced, it will be scrutinised by Parliament and we will consider its detail.'
BBC News
29-05-2025
- BBC News
London council reprimanded after exposing sensitive data
A west London council has been reprimanded after personal details of more than 6,500 people including "sensitive" data about children was left online for almost two and Fulham Council inadvertently published the data when responding to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request in October local authority's response included an excel spreadsheet with 35 hidden workbooks, 10 of which contained personal details, which was not discovered until November 2023.A council spokesperson said the error was fixed as soon as they were notified and staff are no longer allowed to supply information using the same format. 'Children in council care' The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), said the council's response to the FoI was uploaded to its own online disclosure log and provided to the website What Do They Know? (WDTK), which the request was made published the response on its own site in December breach was not identified until WDTK completed a review of its website, after which it informed the council. The information was taken down from both to the ICO, a total of 6,528 people were affected, 2,342 of whom were the adult data set included council employees, former employees and agency staff, the personal information belonging to children was described as sensitive in nature and related to the placement of looked-after children in the council's care. The ICO said children's personal data is considered "deserving of specific protection" and in this case, of particular concern was the personal data belonging to 96 unaccompanied asylum-seeking is no evidence the data was inappropriately accessed, processed or ICO noted a number of remedial steps taken by the council, including that redaction and disclosure guidance has been updated and training completed with the relevant team.
