🚨FOI is broken. 2020 was the worst year on record for UK Government transparency, according to @openDemocracy’s report today 😠

Here's @GoodLawProject’s experience over the past 12 months. [THREAD] ⬇️
opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-…
@openDemocracy [1] Last week, @GoodLawProject successfully forced Government to reveal the names of all 47 companies in the PPE ‘VIP’ lane 🎉

After a *9-month* FOI battle, @ICOnews ordered Government to disclose these firms to us *within 35 days*

More info 👇 goodlawproject.org/news/they-have…
@openDemocracy @ICOnews [2] After a 3-month wait, Government refused to release a bombshell report explaining how the PPE ‘VIP’ lane was controlled, and the associated conflict of interest issues/fraud risks.

They claimed it’s 'not in the public interest' 🙄

@openDemocracy @ICOnews [3] The FCO continues to delay answering our FOI request about Dominic Raab's use of WhatsApp for Government business.

They want 60 days to complete a public interest test - instead of the usual 20 days!🤦‍♂️👇
@openDemocracy @ICOnews [4] For 9 months, Government has not answered our FOI request for a copy of Dido Harding’s meeting schedule.

First they said the costs were too excessive, now they’re saying we are being 'vexatious' 🤯
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/test-and…
@openDemocracy @ICOnews [5] This month, our investigative journalist @RussellScott1 discovered his FOI requests are being routinely delayed by the Government’s infamous 'clearing house' 😲

Government had been diverting his FOI requests there from 2016 onward 🚨

@openDemocracy @ICOnews @RussellScott1 Our work holding the Government to account is only possible thanks to donations from ordinary people across the UK.

If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here 👇

Thank you💛
glplive.org/foi-twdl-2510

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More from @GoodLawProject

27 Oct
🚨 TEST AND WASTE 🚨

Explosive new report condemns the Government’s 'muddled' and 'overstated' Test & Trace system - and finds it has failed to cut infection levels despite its ‘eye-watering’ £37bn funding

THREAD ⬇️ (1/6)
theguardian.com/world/2021/oct…
Today’s report finds overreliance on consultants has likely cost taxpayers ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’

In April, 2,164 consultants worked on NHS Test & Trace with average pay of '£1,100 per day' 👀

Our report on the consultancy gravy train⬇️ (2/6)
goodlawproject.org/news/deloitte/
🚨Incredibly, only 14% of lateral flow test results have been registered.

Huge waste that has likely generated huge wealth for some.

We revealed the existence of a fast-track 'VIP' lane for testing firms preferred by Ministers ⬇️ (3/6)
goodlawproject.org/update/breakin…
Read 6 tweets
22 Oct
Happy Friday! Here’s a few of the things we’ve been working on this week... (1/6)🧵⏬
We started the week with a win!

The ICO has now ordered Government to reveal the names of the 47 companies in the PPE VIP lane (yep, the VIP lane they previously said didn’t exist 👀) (2/6)
glplive.org/tzj
We worked with @openDemocracy to reveal that Boris Johnson’s former adviser works for a company that won millions of pounds in Government funding - at the same time it donated £20,000 to the Conservative Party (3/6)
glplive.org/z44
Read 6 tweets
20 Oct
NEW: Matt Hancock claimed the Government ‘right from the start’ threw ‘a protective ring around care homes’. This was simply untrue.

We have gained exclusive access to the evidence – and it is horrifying. ⬇️ goodlawproject.org/news/they-let-…
One email from March 2020 shows officials & Dr Jenny Harries, now Head of Test + Trace, discussing the fact that care homes did not want to take people from hospital without a negative test. Instead of listening it appears Government pushed ahead ⬇️
A report from March 2020 confirmed that residents being admitted to care homes ‘may have Covid-19, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic’.

And an email dated 24th March 2020 revealed that ‘freeing up NHS beds is a government policy’.
Read 5 tweets
12 Oct
The first major inquiry into how Government handled the Covid crisis has been published today. The findings are damning, revealing a catalogue of failures which led to thousands of needless deaths. THREAD⬇️
committees.parliament.uk/work/657/coron…
The report reflects much of what we’ve been saying for months. From flawed Test and Trace, to poor protection in elderly care homes, much more could have been done. It’s heartbreaking reading.
It calls Test and Trace “slow, uncertain, and often chaotic”, saying it “ultimately failed in its stated objective to prevent future lockdowns despite vast quantities of taxpayers’ money being directed to it”.
Read 9 tweets
8 Oct
We've had a successful week - here's a few of our highlights ⬇️ (1/6)
🔍We revealed eye-watering profits made by Uniserve, who secured PPE deals via the ‘VIP Lane’ - which Government had previously denied existing (2/6)
glplive.org/fpf
✅The High Court granted our request to have our legal challenge to the so-called ‘Levelling Up Fund’ heard on an expedited basis (3/6)
glplive.org/h05
Read 6 tweets
25 Aug
💥The huge £4.8bn fund pretends to be the centrepiece of a levelling up agenda – but we think it’s just a way to funnel money into constituencies of political benefit to the Conservative Party... (1/6)
thenational.scot/news/19534210.…
This week, the High Court granted permission for our legal challenge against this... This decision means the Government will have to defend itself in Court (2/6)
It’s the latest in a string of permission decisions that have gone in our favour.

Of the 14 cases we have issued since the start of 2020, the Court has granted permission in 11 at the first time of asking... (3/6)
Read 6 tweets

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