DATA BONANZA SPELLS END OF PRIVACY
I have been fighting the extension of data sharing among public bodies in Dorset for a number of months, challenging the county-wide Information Sharing Protocol at West Dorset District Council & in the media.
I won a concession at West Dorset that the Scrutiny Committee would revisit the appropriateness of the legislation next year in relation to the promised Communications Data Bill which will allow the collection & storage of all phone calls, emails & internet activity in the UK.
Now Sir David Omand, former Whitehall intelligence & security co-ordinator & author of a report by the Institute of Public Policy Research on the national security strategy – the database of advanced passenger information, airline bookings, passport data, immigration, identity & border records, criminal records, financial, telephone & other communication records - suggests that once an individual is assigned a unique index number, it is possible to retrieve & access data across numerous databases & thereby obtain information about that person’s life that was not authorised in the original valid consent for data collection.
He has recommended the establishment of clear human rights guidelines, such as sufficient sustainable cause, integrity of motive, methodology proportionate to the seriousness of the business & use of data collection as a last resort. I would entirely support the establishment of these guidelines in law so that challenges to privacy invasion can be brought effectively. I would also like to see built in to the legislation a review focusing on whether the number of successful prosecutions made as a result of the database has increased compared to the number before its inception. This needs to be conducted by an independent agency – likewise a survey of the increase in the number of complaints made as a result of the data storage. Only then can we monitor whether the level of risk has been worth it.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
TORIES FAIL TO CONSULT IN DORSET COUNTY COUNCIL’S SCHOOLS’ REORGANISATION
Last week I attended a special meeting of Purbeck District Council – the latest of many public meetings in which the subject of proposed changes to the three tier structure of schools was hotly debated. Lib Dem councillors proposed a rejection of the County Council’s proposals but were outnumbered by a Conservative proposal which, although it contained some laudable features, contained the killer suggestion that some parts of Purbeck might be better suited to the 2 tier model. Unfortunately this gives this County Council an escape clause.
The most important factor is that the public be properly consulted & permitted to have a role in the decisions made. During the weekend I met with the leader of a Welsh council which had attempted a similar reorganisation. At least the new leader of the Council that had formed after the local elections, which were lost by the party that hadn’t listened & with education as the major issue. Remember there are only 2 seats in the Conservative majority in Dorset & it’s only 8 years since the Lib Dems ran the council – during which time incidentally we built several new schools without going over budget & entered the election period with the books balanced.
Back to the schools issue – the new council in Wales made sure that it involved the community closely in the decision eventually reached through a series of working parties. Which did involve some compromise – but at least people had played a proper part in the decision made.!
Last week I attended a special meeting of Purbeck District Council – the latest of many public meetings in which the subject of proposed changes to the three tier structure of schools was hotly debated. Lib Dem councillors proposed a rejection of the County Council’s proposals but were outnumbered by a Conservative proposal which, although it contained some laudable features, contained the killer suggestion that some parts of Purbeck might be better suited to the 2 tier model. Unfortunately this gives this County Council an escape clause.
The most important factor is that the public be properly consulted & permitted to have a role in the decisions made. During the weekend I met with the leader of a Welsh council which had attempted a similar reorganisation. At least the new leader of the Council that had formed after the local elections, which were lost by the party that hadn’t listened & with education as the major issue. Remember there are only 2 seats in the Conservative majority in Dorset & it’s only 8 years since the Lib Dems ran the council – during which time incidentally we built several new schools without going over budget & entered the election period with the books balanced.
Back to the schools issue – the new council in Wales made sure that it involved the community closely in the decision eventually reached through a series of working parties. Which did involve some compromise – but at least people had played a proper part in the decision made.!
SOUTH DORSET MP SUPPORTS POST OFFICE PRIVATISATION PLANS
Despite the promise in Labour’s 2005 election manifesto (pg 21 “no plans to privatise” its services & supporting “a publicly owned royal mail”) Mandelson today introduced a bill in the Lords setting out a programme of part privatisation.
Beware ! The Dutch firm TNT which has offered to buy up a third of the service has just spent a year contesting the German government’s introduction of a minimum wage for all postal workers & only a week ago reported a 37% drop in its fourth quarter profits.
Royal Mail however in the nine months to Christmas 2008 made a profit of £225 million.
Part of the problem facing the industry is the 13 year pensions holiday started in 1990 & therefore the responsibility of both Tory & Labour administrations – seeking to save money by ignoring the pensions time bomb in their midst.
Needless to say, Jim Knight is not one of the 140 Labour rebels who have signed an Early Day Motion in protest at the plans.
Liberal Democrats would like to see the following arrangements made for Royal Mail:
Re-opening the 3500 Community Post Offices closed by the Tories & the 4000 closed by Labour; allowing employees in Royal Mail to become shareholders following the John Lewis model;commiting any future government to retaining the network as a public service;
ensuring the contracts for pensions & benefits would stay.
.
Despite the promise in Labour’s 2005 election manifesto (pg 21 “no plans to privatise” its services & supporting “a publicly owned royal mail”) Mandelson today introduced a bill in the Lords setting out a programme of part privatisation.
Beware ! The Dutch firm TNT which has offered to buy up a third of the service has just spent a year contesting the German government’s introduction of a minimum wage for all postal workers & only a week ago reported a 37% drop in its fourth quarter profits.
Royal Mail however in the nine months to Christmas 2008 made a profit of £225 million.
Part of the problem facing the industry is the 13 year pensions holiday started in 1990 & therefore the responsibility of both Tory & Labour administrations – seeking to save money by ignoring the pensions time bomb in their midst.
Needless to say, Jim Knight is not one of the 140 Labour rebels who have signed an Early Day Motion in protest at the plans.
Liberal Democrats would like to see the following arrangements made for Royal Mail:
Re-opening the 3500 Community Post Offices closed by the Tories & the 4000 closed by Labour; allowing employees in Royal Mail to become shareholders following the John Lewis model;commiting any future government to retaining the network as a public service;
ensuring the contracts for pensions & benefits would stay.
.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
The pre-Budget report has been roundly condemned by South Dorset Liberal Democrats as a wasted opportunity to help ordinary people in Dorset.
This was a golden opportunity for the Chancellor to help ordinary people by reducing the basic rate of income tax. Instead, he has announced a £5billion tax hike!
The rise in National Insurance will hit anyone earning over £19,000. In comparison, relatively few people will ever actually pay the new 45p rate on incomes over £150,000. That’s a smoke screen, not a real attempt to make taxes fairer. It will raise less than 10% of the extra money which workers and employers will have to pay in National Insurance.
Liberal Democrats are also angry that the government is still not doing enough to ease the affordable housing crisis in South Dorset. We want councils to be allowed to build social housing, reversing a policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher.
Putting money into building more affordable housing is good for everybody. The economy would benefit from the capital investment and from the jobs that would be created. Hundreds of thousands of people who have been on housing waiting lists for years would benefit by finally getting a chance to move into a decent home.
Liberal Democrat proposals for helping people to get through the financial crisis and for stimulating the economy include a 4p cut in the basic rate of income tax paid for by closing tax loopholes used by the wealthy, investing in capital projects such as social housing, energy efficiency and public transport to bring long-term benefits and taking steps to ease the credit crisis by compelling banks to lend money to viable businesses.
This was a golden opportunity for the Chancellor to help ordinary people by reducing the basic rate of income tax. Instead, he has announced a £5billion tax hike!
The rise in National Insurance will hit anyone earning over £19,000. In comparison, relatively few people will ever actually pay the new 45p rate on incomes over £150,000. That’s a smoke screen, not a real attempt to make taxes fairer. It will raise less than 10% of the extra money which workers and employers will have to pay in National Insurance.
Liberal Democrats are also angry that the government is still not doing enough to ease the affordable housing crisis in South Dorset. We want councils to be allowed to build social housing, reversing a policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher.
Putting money into building more affordable housing is good for everybody. The economy would benefit from the capital investment and from the jobs that would be created. Hundreds of thousands of people who have been on housing waiting lists for years would benefit by finally getting a chance to move into a decent home.
Liberal Democrat proposals for helping people to get through the financial crisis and for stimulating the economy include a 4p cut in the basic rate of income tax paid for by closing tax loopholes used by the wealthy, investing in capital projects such as social housing, energy efficiency and public transport to bring long-term benefits and taking steps to ease the credit crisis by compelling banks to lend money to viable businesses.
No Let-Up In Labour’s Appalling Human Rights Record
South Dorset Liberal Democrats have condemned a judgement last week which saw two senior judges declare that they were powerless to reveal information about the torture of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born British resident, because David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary had warned the court that the US was threatening to stop sharing intelligence about terrorism with the UK.
According to Miliband releasing the evidence would mean that “the public of the United Kingdom would be put at risk”. Miliband has stuck to this decision even after Barak Obama signed orders announcing the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
The decision by Miliband to carry forward the threat by the Bush administration is deeply disturbing. It implies that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s wish of last year to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing by M15 & the CIA over Mohamed’s treatment will receive pretty short shrift.
Surely the inauguration of President Obama offers this government the chance to close the door on its deplorable association with the actions of the Bush era. For an apparently forward-looking politician like Miliband, sometimes billed as a future prime-minister, to continue holding a cloak over activities in a prison camp which we know to have been illegal under international law is simply appalling.
If there is a genuine threat by the Americans to withdraw co-operation because it will reveal their own misdemeanors then that is something that needs to be addressed at the highest level. The British people are as deserving of democratic transparency as the American people & the change of administration should be used as an opportunity to mend breaches in human rights rather than continuing to obscure them. There’s no excuse this time.
South Dorset Liberal Democrats have condemned a judgement last week which saw two senior judges declare that they were powerless to reveal information about the torture of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born British resident, because David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary had warned the court that the US was threatening to stop sharing intelligence about terrorism with the UK.
According to Miliband releasing the evidence would mean that “the public of the United Kingdom would be put at risk”. Miliband has stuck to this decision even after Barak Obama signed orders announcing the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
The decision by Miliband to carry forward the threat by the Bush administration is deeply disturbing. It implies that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s wish of last year to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing by M15 & the CIA over Mohamed’s treatment will receive pretty short shrift.
Surely the inauguration of President Obama offers this government the chance to close the door on its deplorable association with the actions of the Bush era. For an apparently forward-looking politician like Miliband, sometimes billed as a future prime-minister, to continue holding a cloak over activities in a prison camp which we know to have been illegal under international law is simply appalling.
If there is a genuine threat by the Americans to withdraw co-operation because it will reveal their own misdemeanors then that is something that needs to be addressed at the highest level. The British people are as deserving of democratic transparency as the American people & the change of administration should be used as an opportunity to mend breaches in human rights rather than continuing to obscure them. There’s no excuse this time.
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