Written by: Professor Patrick Birkinshaw

This publication is now in its third edition, and has been revised to include recent developments in the complex field of access to and regulation of information within central and local government in the UK. In particular, the book has been revised to include the Environmental Information Regulations, the Human Rights Act, individual access provisions under the Freedom of Information Act, and amendments to the Data Protection Act. Other topics that the book addresses include EU requirements and privacy issues. The book also deals with developments in related areas of case law.

The book is certainly comprehensive, and weighs in at over 650 pages. The length of the volume and the detail that the book contains means that the book functions best as an authoritative reference book. The book’s index, tables and annexures are impressive, and include twenty pages of text from the Freedom of Information Act, the Human Rights Act, and the Environmental Information Regulations. It also includes an exhaustive list of statutory provisions concerning prohibitions on the disclosure of information, ranging from the Official Secrets Act 1911 to the Pensions Act 2004. Other detailed lists include tables of statues [sic] statutory instruments and cases relating to access to and regulation of information.

The book does not cover records management in any detail, but is however an essential reference book for law professionals dealing in this complex area, in addition to those with specific responsibility for Freedom of Information and Data Protection within their organisation.

“Government & Information” is written by Patrick Birkinshaw, who is a professor of Law at Hull University, and was the specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee which reviewed the Freedom of Information Bill.

Reviewed by Jamie Burton, Tribal Technology Ltd, RMS Bulletin, August 05

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