Freedom of Information Act 2000

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision for the disclosure of information held by public authorities or by persons providing services for them and to amend the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Public Records Act 1958; and for connected purposes.
Statute book chapter	2000 c. 36
Territorial extent	England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal Assent	30 November 2000
Commencement	30 November 2000 (part)[1] 30 January 2001 (part)[1] 14 May 2001 (part)[2] 30 November 2002 (part)[3] 28 February 2003 (part)[3] 30 June 2003 (part)[3] 30 October 2003 (part)[4] 29 February 2004 (part)[4] 30 June 2004 (part)[4] 1 January 2005 (full)[5][6]
Other legislation
Related legislation	Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Official text of the statute as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database

File:Ukpga 20000036 en.pdf

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c.36) is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level. The Act implements a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election, developed by Dr David Clark as a 1997 White Paper. The final version of the Act is believed to have been diluted from that proposed while Labour was in opposition. The full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005.

The Act is the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor's Department (now renamed the Ministry of Justice). The Act led to the renaming of the Data Protection Commissioner (set up to administer the Data Protection Act), who is now known as the Information Commissioner. The Office of the Information Commissioner oversees the operation of the Act.

A second freedom of information law is in existence in the UK, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 13). It was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2002, to cover public bodies over which the Holyrood parliament, rather than Westminster, has jurisdiction. For these institutions, it fulfils the same purpose as the 2000 Act.

Around 120,000 requests are made each year^[7]. Private citizens made 60% of them, with businesses and journalists accounting for 20% and 10% respectively^[7]. Journalists' requests took up more of officials' time than businesses' and individuals' requests^{[citation needed]}. The Act cost £35.5 million in 2005. ^[8]

Background[link]

The act implements what was a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election. Before its introduction, there had been no right of access to government by the general public, merely a limited voluntary framework for sharing information.

The white paper[link]

The act was preceded by a 1998 white paper, entitled "Your Right to Know" by Dr David Clark. The white paper was met with widespread enthusiasm ^[9] and was described at the time as being "almost too good to be true."^[10] by one advocate of freedom of information legislation. The final act was substantially more limited in scope than the initial white paper.

Parliamentary debate[link]

Following the white paper, there is a draft bill was published in May 1999, the act was extensively debated in the House of Commons and the House of Lords and received royal assent in November 2000

Act[link]

Applicability[link]

The Freedom of Information Act creates a statutory right for access to information in relation to bodies that exercise functions of a public nature, three different kinds of bodies are covered under the act. Public Authorities, publicly owned companies and designated bodies performing public functions.

Public authorities[link]

In principle, the freedom of information act applies to all "public authorities" within the United Kingdom, a full list of "public authorities" for the purposes of the act is included in Schedule 1. Government departments, the Houses of Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Assembly, the armed forces, local government bodies, National Health Service bodies, schools, colleges and universities, police authorities and Chief Officers of Police are included within this list, which ranges from the Farm Animal Welfare Council to the Youth Council for Northern Ireland.

A few government departments are expressly excluded from the scope of the act, principally Intelligence services.

As government departments are closed and created, the act must be continually updated. s4 of the Act empowers the Secretary of State for constitutional affairs to add a body or officeholder to Schedule 1 as a public authority if they are created statute or prerogative; and its members are appointed by the government.^[11]

Hybrid public authorities[link]

It is important to note that for some public authorities listed under Schedule 1 the act has limited effect. For example, the BBC is subject to the act only for information which is not held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, to prevent its journalistic activities from possible compromise. The scope of this provision was considered in the recent High Court decision of BBC v Sugar an internal BBC document examining the BBC coverage of the Middle East for potential bias. The appellants in that case argued that the document had been produced for both operational and journalistic reasons, and so should not be covered by the partial exemption provided in the act. the High Court rejected this argument, Mr Justice Irwin considered that the meaning of journalism within the act meant that any information held for such purposes was covered by the exemption:

My conclusion is that the words in the Schedule mean the BBC has no obligation to disclose information which they hold to any significant extent for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, whether or not the information is also held for other purposes. The words do not mean that the information is disclosable if it is held for purposes distinct from journalism, art or literature, whilst it is also held to any significant extent for those listed purposes. If the information is held for mixed purposes, including to any significant extent the purposes listed in the Schedule or one of them, then the information is not disclosable.

Publicly owned companies[link]

Companies that fall within the definition of a publicly owned company under s6 of the Act automatically fall within its grasp. S6 provides that a company is publicly owned if:

(a) it is wholly owned by the Crown, or

(b) it is wholly owned by any public authority listed in Schedule 1 other than

(i) a government department, or

(ii) any authority which is listed only in relation to particular information.

Designated bodies[link]

Under s5 of the act the Secretary of State may designate further bodies as public authorities under the act, provided that those bodies are exercising a function of a public nature or contracting to provide a service whose provision is a function of a public authority. As of June 2010 no such designations had yet been made, but the Ministry of Justice has issued a consultation paper proposing to use s.5 to extend the list of public authorities to include: academy schools, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Financial Ombudsman Service, and UCAS

Right of Access[link]

The act creates a general right of access, on request, to information held by public authorities. On receipt of a freedom of information claim a public authority has two corresponding duties. First, a duty to inform a member of the public whether or not it holds the information requested (s1(1)(a)), and second if it does hold that information, to communicate it to the person making that request (s1(1)(b)). As the collary to this, the Act thus grants the equivalent rights to a confirmation or denial and communication of relevant information to an individual making a request under the act. The basic duty is supplemented by an additional duty to aid individuals in making requests and ensuring that they frame their FOI requests appropriately. (s.16(1))

However, there are numerous exemptions. Some of these are absolute bars to disclosure; some are qualified, which means the public authority has to decide whether the public interest in disclosing the relevant information outweighs the public interest in maintaining the exemption. An applicant for information who considers that a request has been wrongly rejected may apply to the Information Commissioner, who has the power to order disclosure. However, such orders can be appealed to a specialist tribunal (the Information Tribunal) and in some circumstances the Government has the power to override orders of the Information Commissioner.

Any person can request information under the act; this includes legal entities such as companies. There is no special format for a request. Applicants do not need to mention the act when making a request. Applicants do not have to give a reason for their request.

Exemptions[link]

Although the Act covers a wide range of government information, the act contains a variety of provisions that provide for the exemption from disclosure of certain types of information. The act contains two forms of exemption. "Absolute" exemptions that are not subject to any public interest assessment, they act as absolute bars to the disclosure of information and "qualified" exemptions where a public interest test must be made, balancing the public interest in maintaining the exemption against the public interest in disclosing the information. The original government white paper on the freedom of information act proposed only seven such exemptions^{[citation needed]}, but the final bill included 24.

Absolute exemptions[link]

Exemptions designated "absolute exemptions" have no public interest test attached, the act contains eight such exemptions:

• Information that is accessible by other means (s.21)
• Information relating to or dealing with security matters (s.23)
• Information contained in court records (s.32)
• Where disclosure of the information would infringe parliamentary privilege (s.34)
• Information held by the House of Commons or the House of Lords, where disclosure would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs (s.36). (Information that is not held by the Commons or Lords falling under s.36 is subject to the public interest test)

• Information which (a) the applicant could obtain under the Data Protection Act 1998; or (b) where release would breach the data protection principles. (s.40)
• Information provided in confidence (s.41)
• When disclosing the information is prohibited by an enactment; incompatible with an EU obligation; or would commit a contempt of court (s.44)

Qualified exemptions[link]

If information falls within a qualified exemption, it must be subject to a public interest test. Thus, a decision on the application of a qualified exemption operates in two stages. First, a public authority must determine whether or not information is covered by an exemption and then, even if it is covered, the authority must disclose the information unless the application of a public interest test indicated that the public interest favours non-disclosure.

Qualified exemptions can be sub-divided into two further categories: class-based exemptions covering information in particular classes, and harm-based exemptions covering situation where disclosure of information would be liable to cause harm.

Class-based exemptions[link]

• Information intended for future publication (s.22)
• Information which does not fall within s. 23(1) is exempt if required for the purpose of safeguarding national security (s.24)
• Information held for purposes of investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities (s.30)
• Information relating to the formation of government policy, ministerial communications, advice from government legal officers, and the operation of any ministerial private office (s.35)
• Information that relates to communications with members of the Royal family, and conferring honours (s.37)
• Prevents overlap between FoI Act and regulations requiring disclosure of environmental information (s.39)
• Information covered by professional legal privilege (s.42)
• Trade secrets (s.43(1))

Harm-based exemptions[link]

Under these exemptions the exemption applies (subject to the public interest test) if complying with the duty under s.1 would or would be likely to:

• Prejudice defence or the capability, effectiveness or security of any relevant forces (s.26)
• Prejudice international relations (s.27)
• Prejudice relations between any administration in the United Kingdom and any other such administration (s.28)
• Prejudice the economic interests of the UK (s.29)
• Prejudice law enforcement (e.g., prevention of crime or administration of justice, etc.) (s.31)
• Prejudice the auditing functions of any public authorities (s.33)
• In the reasonable opinion of a qualified person: prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs; prejudice collective responsibility; or inhibit the free and frank provision of advice or exchange of views (s.36)
• Endanger physical or mental health, or endanger the safety of the individual (s.38)
• Prejudice commercial interests (s.43(2))

Refusing requests[link]

Vexatious requests[link]

A public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious.(s14(1)) A request is considered vexatious if it is ‘obsessive or manifestly unreasonable,’ harasses the authority or causes distress to its staff, imposes a significant burden, or if the request lacks any serious value.^[12]

Implementing the act[link]

The Act affects over 100,000 public bodies including government departments, schools and councils.

The Act came into force in phases, with the final "general right of access" to public information under the Act coming into force on 1 January 2005.^[5][6]

As well as the "general right of access", the Act places a duty on public authorities to adopt and maintain pro-active "publication schemes" for the routine release of important information (such as annual reports and accounts). These publication schemes must be approved by the Information Commissioner.

In general, public authorities have 20 working days to respond to an information request, though this deadline can be extended in certain cases and/or with the agreement of the requester. Under the Act, public authorities are encouraged to enter into a dialogue with the requester to better determine the information they want, and the format they want it in - in itself, a change in the way UK authorities interact with the public.

Requests can be refused if they cost more than £600, including time spent searching for files.^[8]

The UK Government established the Access to Information Central Clearing House in order to ensure consistency across Central Government in the way requests are handled.

Unusual features[link]

Three features of the UK Freedom of Information Act deserve special mention, as they differ from the position in many other countries.

1. Requests by individuals for access to their own personal information are dealt with outside the act for most practical purposes. They are dealt with under the Data Protection Act 1998 once it has been determined that the exemption for first party personal data is engaged, although some key provisions remain applicable e.g. the right of complaint to the Information Commissioner.
2. Requests for information about matters concerning the environment are dealt with by the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Those regulations, while similar to the FOIA, do differ in a number of ways.
3. There is no procedure whereby third parties can challenge a decision by a public authority to disclose information: for instance, if a commercial organisation provides information to a public authority, and the authority discloses that information in response to an FOI Act request, the commercial organisation has no right of appeal against that decision. By contrast, "reverse FOI" applications of this type are common in the U.S.

Reception[link]

At the time of the passing of the Act, advocates of freedom of information legislation were critical of the bill for its complexity, limited scope and the inclusion of a ministerial veto. Lord Mackay criticised the bill in the House of Lords as "toothless" for its inclusion of a provisions allowing ministers to veto applications.^[13]

By contrast, former prime minister Tony Blair responsible for passing the Act as "One of the biggest mistakes of his career" . He says that "For political leaders, it's like saying to someone who is hitting you over the head with a stick, 'Hey, try this instead', and handing them a mallet. The information is neither sought because the journalist is curious to know, nor given to bestow knowledge on 'the people'. It's used as a weapon."^[14] Labour Peer Lord Falconer has criticised the use of the act by journalists for ""fishing expeditions" into salacious stories, arguing that: "…FoI is not for press it is for the people. It needs to be properly used in order to promote good Government. Information needs to be handled responsibly, and I strongly believe that there is a duty of responsibility on behalf of the media as well."^[15]

In the article Freedom of Information: A sheep in wolf's clothing? Rodney Austin offers the following criticisms of the substance of the Act:

• The range of exemptions is wider than for any other freedom of information acts existing in a democratic state.
• The obligations to establish publication schemes were diluted meaning that there is no duty to publish information of any specified type
• There is a ministerial veto which undermines the Act. This has been used four times: the first time to stop publication of minutes of cabinet meetings relating to the invasion of Iraq^[16], the second and third time by successive governments to stop publication of cabinet meetings relating to discussions regarding devolution^[17][18] and the fourth to stop publication of a risk register on NHS overhaul in England.^[19]

The legislation has also been criticised for "loopholes" that allow authorities to avoid disclosing information in certain situations. Companies owned by one public authority are generally subject to the Act but companies owned by two or more public authorities are not covered^[20][21]

Facts revealed by the act[link]

Facts that have been brought to light by this Act include:

• The Government agreed to a £1.5 million bailout of one of the most troubled schools in its flagship academies programme ten days before the 2005 general election^[22]

• Ministers and MPs claimed thousands of pounds on taxis as part of £5.9 million in expenses for travel^[22]
• Foreign diplomats – who have diplomatic immunity – were accused of rapes, sexual assaults, child abuse and murders while working in Britain^[22]
• Seventy-four police officers serving with the Metropolitan Police have criminal records^[22]

• A clandestine British torture programme existed in post-war Germany, “reminiscent of the concentration camps”^[22]
• The UK supported the Israeli nuclear weapons program, by selling Israel 20 tonnes of heavy water in 1958.^[23]
• The NHS has made available Implanon implants to girls from the age of 13 in an attempt to cut teenage pregnancies^[22]

Amendment bill[link]

The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill was a private member's bill introduced to the British House of Commons in 2007 which failed to become law. Conservative MP David Maclean introduced the bill to ensure that MPs' correspondence was exempt from freedom of information laws. The then leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, said there should not "be one law for MPs and a different law for everyone else" and that it looked like "Parliament has something to hide".^[24] However, this failed to pass the first reading in the House of Lords.

Further to this, Lord Falconer made comments suggesting that time spent deciding whether or not information fell under an exemption clause should be included in the £600 cost limit. Consultation was carried out, with the government saying the change would cut costs and discourage requests for trivial information,^[25] although critics said that it was to keep embarrassing information secret.^[8][26][27]

See also[link]

• Campaign for Freedom of Information
• Thirty year rule

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• The Law of Freedom of Information (MacDonald, Jones et al.: OUP 2003)
• Information Rights (Coppel at al.: Sweet and Maxwell 2004)
• Your Right To Know (Brooke, H.: Pluto Press 2006)

External links[link]

• Official text of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database.
• Information Commissioner's Office
• Freedom of Information Act Blog (maintained by Steve Wood, Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University)
• Freedom of Information Journal
• House of Commons Library Article (An analysis of the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act)
• Open Government: a Journal on Freedom of Information. Open access e-journal with peer-reviewed research and commentary on FOI worldwide
• WhatDoTheyKnow.com - a web-based system for making and publishing Freedom of Information requests, maintained by mySociety

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Sajid Javid MP
Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Julie Kirkbride
Majority	11,308 (21.9%)
Personal details
Born	(1969-12-05) 5 December 1969 (age 42)[1] Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Laura Javid
Children	4
Alma mater	University of Exeter
Occupation	Banker
Religion	None (ex-Muslim)[2]
Website	Conservative Party profile

Sajid Javid (born 5 December 1969) is an English Conservative Party politician. At the 2010 general election he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bromsgrove constituency.

He is currently the Parliamentary Private Secretary to George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, appointed 14 October 2011.^[3]

Early life[link]

Javid was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, as one of five sons to a bus driver. Javid was educated at Downend School, a state comprehensive school in Bristol, Avon from 1981-1986, followed by Filton Technical College, also in Bristol, from 1986-1988, and then at the University of Exeter, Devon, from 1988-1991, where he studied economics and politics, and became a member of the Conservative Party.^[4][5]

Javid joined Chase Manhattan Bank in New York immediately out of university, working mostly in South America. Aged 25, he became the youngest Vice President in the history of the bank.^[6] He relocated to London in 1997, and later joined Deutsche Bank as a Director in 2000. In 2004 he became a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank and, one year later, Global Head of Emerging Markets Structuring.^[7] In 2007 he relocated to Singapore as head of Deutsche Bank's credit trading, equity convertibles, commodities and private equity businesses in Asia,^[8] and was appointed a board member of Deutsche Bank International Limited. He left Deutsche Bank in 2009 to pursue a career in politics.

Javid is a Trustee of the London Early Years Foundation, was a Governor of Normand Croft Community School, and has led an expedition to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Help The Aged.^[9]

Political career[link]

On 28 May 2009, the MP for Bromsgrove, Julie Kirkbride, announced that she would be standing down as an MP at the next General Election in the light of the expenses scandal. Kirkbride had represented Bromsgrove since 1997. Her resignation was confirmed in December 2009, after an attempt to withdraw it.^[10] The Bromsgrove constituency is a safe Conservative seat and has been Conservative since its creation in 1983.

After a selection contest held by the Bromsgrove Conservative Association on 6 February 2010, Javid was announced as the Conservative candidate in the 2010 general election. He received over 70% of the votes cast by local members of the Association.

In the election held on 6 May 2010, Javid received 22,558 votes (43.7%) with a majority of 11,308.^[11] In terms of number of votes, this was an increase on the previous majority of 10,080 at the 2005 general election.^[12]

Along with Rehman Chishti, Javid is the first Muslim born MP to represent the Conservative Party.^[13] However, he declares that Christianity is the only religion practised in his house.

According to Jack Straw, those in the 2010 intake "are the best new MPs for over thirty years": he also identified Javid as one of six Conservative MPs "who have already made an impact in this first term".^[14] Javid was one of six new MPs focused on by the Financial Times.^[15] In December 2010, Tim Montgomerie, the editor of ConservativeHome (the UK's most influential conservative website), named Sajid as his newcomer of 2010.^[16]

Javid was a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee from June - November 2010. He had to relinquish this position when he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Hayes, the current Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.^[17] Javid was one of the first new MPs to be appointed to this position by the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

In August 2011, in an analysis of the 2010 parliamentary intake by Westminster consultancy firm Guide Public Affairs, "Guide To The Next Prime Minister",^[18] Javid ranked third, and was the top-scoring Conservative.^[19]

Javid has written op-ed pieces for The Wall Street Journal Europe,^[20][21] The Daily Telegraph^[22] and The Times.^[23][24]

On 14 October 2011, Javid was promoted to Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne.^[25]

In January 2012, The Times newspaper included Javid in its list of the "Top 100 Global People to Watch in 2012".^[26] The Times stated that, "His background in investment banking and experience working on currency devaluations, mean that Javid’s star could be the brightest of a potentially stellar 2010 Tory intake."

Private life[link]

Javid on faith: "My own family’s heritage is Muslim. Myself and my four brothers were brought up to believe in God, but I do not practise any religion. My wife is a practising Christian and the only religion practised in my house is Christianity. I think we should recognise that Christianity is the religion of our country.”^[27]

Javid on multiculturalism: “I welcome the Prime Minister’s speech on this complex and important topic. I am proud of my Pakistani and Muslim heritage but, as I have myself said repeatedly, people who settle here should respect the British way of life, culture and traditions, and be required to learn our language. For too long we have championed an ideology of multiculturalism which has created divides rather than broken them down.”^[28]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Sajid Javid MP Conservative Party profile
• Bromsgrove Conservatives
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Official channel at YouTube

The Right Honourable Stephen Timms MP
Shadow Minister of State for Employment
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 October 2010
Leader	Ed Miliband
Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office 11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Mark Hoban
Succeeded by	Chris Leslie
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office 5 October 2008 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Jane Kennedy
Succeeded by	Mark Hoban
In office 12 September 2004 – 6 May 2005
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Ruth Kelly
Succeeded by	John Healey
In office 29 July 1999 – 8 June 2001
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Barbara Roche
Succeeded by	Paul Boateng
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Des Browne
Succeeded by	Andy Burnham
Member of Parliament for East Ham
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Majority	27,826 (55.2%)
Member of Parliament for Newham North East
In office 9 June 1994 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Ron Leighton
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	(1955-07-29) 29 July 1955 (age 56) Oldham, Lancashire, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Hui-Leng Lim (1986–present)
Alma mater	Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Religion	Christianity
Website	Official website

Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for East Ham since 1994. He is a former Cabinet Minister having served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2006 to 2007. He is also the Vice-Chair of the Labour Party, and vice chairman for faith groups.^[1][2]

Timms was the Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1999-2001, 2004-2005, and 2008-2010. Since 11 May 2010, he has been the Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Timms has the largest majority of any sitting MP (27,826), with 70.4% of the local vote.^[2][3]

On 14 May 2010 he survived a murder attempt by a radical Islamist constituent, Roshonara Choudhry.

Early life[link]

Timms was born in Oldham, Lancashire, to Ronald James Timms, an engineer, and Margaret Joyce Timms, a teacher.^[4][5] He was educated at Farnborough Grammar School in Farnborough, Hampshire, and read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he gained an MA in Mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in Operational Research in 1978.^[6]

Before entering politics, Timms worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years, first for Logica from 1978–86 and then for Ovum from 1986–94, where he was the manager responsible for producing reports on the future of telecommunications. Timms was elected as a councillor for the Little Ilford Ward on Newham London Borough Council in a by-election in 1984, and served as Leader of the Council from 1990 to 1994.^[6]

Member of Parliament[link]

In June 1994 he was elected to Parliament as MP for Newham North East. For the next election, his constituency was merged with part of Newham South, and in May 1997 he was elected MP for the resulting new constituency of East Ham.^[6][7]

In government[link]

He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andrew Smith from May 1997 to March 1998, and to Mo Mowlam from March to July 1998.

In 1998 Timms was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, rising to Minister of State in that department the following year. He served as Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness and Minister of State for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services at the Department of Trade and Industry; Minister of State for School Standards at the Department for Education and Skills; Minister of State for Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions; and served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, from 1999 to 2001, September 2004 to May 2005 and October 2008 to May 2010.^[6]

Chief Secretary to the Treasury; Minister of State for Competitiveness[link]

In May 2006 he was promoted to the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, effectively the Chancellor's second-in-command with responsibility for department budget issues, a post in which he remained until 28 June 2007, when he was dropped from the cabinet by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown.^[6] It was later announced that he had been appointed Minister of State for Competitiveness at the newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform[link]

Following the government reshuffle on 24 January 2008 as a result of the resignation of Peter Hain, Timms moved to the Department for Work and Pensions to become Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform.^[8]

Financial Secretary to the Treasury[link]

Tony McNulty replaced him there on 3 October 2008, and Timms returned to his former role as Financial Secretary to the Treasury.^[6]

In August 2009, he was given additional responsibility for Digital Britain.^[9] In September 2009, he announced plans for a tax of £6 per year to be levied on each phone account in the UK. At the time, this was broadly characterised as a stealth tax in the UK media. In April 2010, Timms' department made an embarrassing slip when a letter purporting to be from him mistakenly identified IP address as "intellectual property address".^[10] According to the accountants' magazine Accountancy Age, he was highly regarded by finance professionals despite such gaffes.^[11]

Murder attempt[link]

On 14 May 2010, Timms was approached by 21-year-old Roshonara Choudhry, during his constituency surgery at the Beckton Globe Library in Kingsford Way, Beckton, East London.^[12][13] She stabbed him twice in his abdomen with a 6-inch (150 mm) kitchen knife, before being disarmed.^[14][15][16] She stated that she had been influenced by watching sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and that her attack was to punish Timms for voting for the Iraq War, and seek revenge for the Iraqi people.^[17][18]

Timms suffered "potentially life-threatening" wounds–lacerations to his liver and a perforation to his stomach–and a senior police officer said he "was extremely fortunate not to have been killed".^[19] He underwent emergency surgery at the Royal London Hospital, from which he was discharged on 19 May.^[15][20]

On 2 November, Choudhry was found guilty of Timms' attempted murder. She was subsequently given a life sentence, with a recommendation that she serve a minimum jail term of 15 years.^[19] After the court case, Timms said he was not bitter, but that forgiveness was not an issue until his attacker showed remorse. He was seeking the banning of incendiary material on popular Internet sites "to protect other vulnerable young people from going down the same road."^[21] YouTube removed some videos of al-Awlaki within hours of the sentence.^[17][21]

Personal life[link]

Timms describes himself as a "Christian Socialist". He has lived in the East London Borough of Newham since 1979. He married Hui-Leng Lim in the borough in 1986.^[21]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Stephen Timms MP official constituency website
• Newham Labour Party
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
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The Right Honourable Justine Greening MP
Secretary of State for Transport
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 October 2011
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Philip Hammond
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office 13 May 2010 – 14 October 2011
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Ian Pearson
Succeeded by	Chloe Smith
Member of Parliament for Putney
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Tony Colman
Majority	10,053 (24.6%)
Personal details
Born	(1969-04-30) 30 April 1969 (age 43) Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	University of Southampton London Business School
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Chartered accountant
Religion	Anglican
Website	www.justinegreening.co.uk

Justine Greening (born 30 April 1969) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Putney since 2005. She was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury in May 2010, and became Secretary of State for Transport on 14 October 2011. Her promotion followed the appointment of her predecessor, Philip Hammond, as Secretary of State for Defence following the resignation of Liam Fox.

Early life[link]

Greening was born in Rotherham, where she attended Oakwood Comprehensive School.^[1] She attended the University of Southampton, where she studied Economics,^[2] and the London Business School (MBA). Prior to entering Parliament, she trained and qualified^[3] as an accountant, before working as an accountant/finance manager for, amongst others, Price Waterhouse Coopers, GlaxoSmithKline and Centrica.

Political career[link]

Greening contested the constituency of Ealing, Acton & Shepherd's Bush in 2001, finishing second with a reduced share of the vote for the Conservatives. She won the seat of Putney in the 2005 General Election on 5 May 2005. Greening won 15,497 votes (42.4% of the vote) giving her a majority of 1,766 (4.8%). She unseated Tony Colman, who had held the seat for Labour since defeating David Mellor in 1997. As the first Conservative elected on the evening of the election, her victory was the first real sign that the Conservative Party was to achieve a degree of success and begin to recover from landslide defeats of the 1997 and 2001 General Elections. Michael Howard, who had visited Putney to give a speech on his first day as Conservative Leader, returned there on the morning after the Election to congratulate Putney Conservatives and give the speech in which he announced his intention to step down.

Greening was appointed a Vice-Chairman (with responsibility for Youth) of the Conservative Party on 15 December 2005, having earlier that year been appointed a member of the Work and Pensions Committee. In July 2007, following a Shadow Ministerial reshuffle, she was promoted to be a junior Shadow Minister for the Treasury. In January 2009, following a further Shadow Ministerial reshuffle, Greening was promoted to Shadow Minister for London, within the Communities and Local Government Team with responsibility for Local Government Finance. Within this brief, she focussed on transport and local community benefits. In March 2010, she was put in charge of co-ordinating the Conservative campaign for the 2010 General Election in London.^[4] She became Economic Secretary to the Treasury in May 2010 after the coalition government came to power.^[5] In October 2011, she became Secretary of State for Transport and was appointed a Privy Councillor.^[6]

She was the youngest female Conservative MP in the House of Commons^[7] until Chloe Smith (who coincidentally succeeded her at HM Treasury) was elected to Parliament on 12 October 2009.

During the Parliamentary expenses scandal, Greening was ranked as the 9th best value for money MP in research carried out by the right-wing think tank, the Adam Smith Institute, and of all her expenses claims she was the 599th lowest out of the 645 MPs.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Justine Greening MP Conservative Party profile
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• www.dft.gov.uk
• Debrett's People of Today

v t e Cameron cabinet (list) Cameron · Clegg Alexander · Cable · Clarke · Davey · Duncan Smith · Gillan · Gove · Greening · Hague · Hammond · Hunt · Lansley · May · Mitchell · Moore · Osborne · Paterson · Pickles · Spelman · Strathclyde · Warsi Also attending: Letwin · Maude · McLoughlin · Willetts · Young When on agenda: Grieve Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement · Coalition government

The Somali diaspora refers to expatriate Somalis who reside in areas of the world that have traditionally not been inhabited by their ethnic group. The Somali Civil War greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many of the best educated Somalis left for the Middle East, Europe and North America.

Europe[link]

While the distribution of Somalis per country in Europe is difficult to measure since the Somali expatriate community on the continent has grown so quickly in recent years, there are significant Somali communities in the United Kingdom: 108,000;^[1] the Netherlands: 31,237 (2011);^[2] Sweden: 21,597 (2007);^[3] Norway: 19,656 (2007);^[4] Denmark: 16,550 (2008);^[5] and Finland: 14,045 (2011).^[6]

United Kingdom[link]

A Somali community center in London's East End (yellow brick building in the middle).

Although most Somalis in the United Kingdom are recent arrivals, the first Somalis to arrive were seamen and traders who settled in port cities in the late 19th century.^[7][8] By 2001, the UK census reported 43,532 Somali-born residents,^[9] making the Somali community in Britain the largest Somali expatriate population in Europe. An official 2010 estimate indicates that 108,000 Somalis live in the UK,^[1] with Somali community organisations putting the figure at 90,000 residents.^[8]

Established Somali communities are found in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff and Bristol, and newer ones have formed in Manchester, Sheffield and Leicester.^[10] The Somali population in London alone accounts for roughly 78% of Britain's Somali residents.^[11] There has also been some secondary migration of Somalis to the UK from the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.^[12]

Finland[link]

Somalis are one of the largest ethnic minorities in Finland, and the largest group of people of non-European origin. In 2009, there were 5,570 Somali citizens, but an equal number may have received Finnish citizenship. In all, there were 11,681 Somali speakers in Finland, of whom 9,444 lived in Uusimaa.^[13] According to the Finnish National newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, the number of Somali-speaking people in Finland in 2010 rose by nearly 10% in a year.^[14]

The Netherlands[link]

From 1989 to 1998, the Netherlands was the second-most common European destination for Somali immigrants, only slightly behind the United Kingdom and more than double the total of the next-most common destination, Denmark.^[15] However, between 2000 and 2005, there was a significant outflow of Somalis from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, unofficially estimated to be as large as 20,000 people.^[16]

North America[link]

United States[link]

The first Somalis arrived in the United States in the 1940s. They were primarily seamen and New York was their destination. In the late 1970s, more Somali immigrants followed. Not until the 1990s when the civil war broke out in Somalia did the majority of Somalis come to the US.

The heaviest concentrations are in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul), followed by Columbus, Ohio, Washington, DC, New York City, Buffalo, New York, Seattle, Kansas City, San Diego, and San Francisco metro areas.

As of 2004^[update], an estimated 25,000 Somalis lived in the US state of Minnesota, with the Twin Cities home to the largest population of Somalis in North America.^[17] In the city of Minneapolis, there are hundreds of Somali-owned and operated businesses. Colorful stalls inside several malls offer everything from halal meat, to stylish leather shoes, to the latest fashion for men and women, as well as gold jewelry, money transfer or hawala offices, banners advertising the latest Somali films, video stores fully stocked with nostalgic love songs not found in the mainstream supermarkets, groceries, and boutiques.^[18]

Canada[link]

Canada hosts one of the largest Somali populations in the Western world, with the census reporting 37,785 people claiming Somali descent,^[19] though unofficial estimates place the figure as high as 200,000 residents.^[20] Somalis tend to be concentrated in the southern part of the province of Ontario, especially the Ottawa and Toronto areas. The Albertan cities of Calgary and Edmonton have also seen a significant increase in their respective Somali communities over the past five years. In addition, the neighbourhood of Rexdale in Toronto has one of the largest Somali populations in the country. Statistics Canada's 2006 Census ranks people of Somali descent as the 69th largest ethnic group in Canada.^[19]

Middle East[link]

Somalis now comprise one of the largest immigrant communities in the United Arab Emirates. Somali-owned businesses line the streets of Deira, the Dubai city centre,^[21] with only Iranians exporting more products from the city at large.^[22] Internet cafés, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants and import-export businesses are all testimony to the Somalis' entrepreneurial spirit. Star African Air is also one of three Somali-owned airlines based in Dubai.^[21]

Africa[link]

A Somali high school student in Cairo, Egypt.

Besides their traditional areas of inhabitation in Greater Somalia (Somalia, Djibouti, the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, and the North Eastern Province of Kenya), a Somali community mainly consisting of businesspeople, academics and students also exists in Egypt.^[23][24] In addition, there is an historical Somali community in the general Sudan area. Primarily concentrated in the north and Khartoum, a geographical region where the local population exhibits strong cultural, physical and religious similarities with ethnic Somalis, the expatriate community mainly consists of students as well as some businesspeople.^[25] More recently, Somali entrepreneurs have also established themselves in South Africa, where they provide most of the retail trade in informal settlements around the Western Cape province.^[26]

See also[link]

• Somali people
• History of Somalia
• Somaliwood

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bjork, Stephanie R and Kusow, Abdi M, From Mogadishu to Dixon: The Somali Diaspora in a Global Context, (Africa World Free Press, 1997)

External links[link]

• Reassessing what we collect website - Somali London History of Somali London with objects and images