CRI Occasional Lecture: Regulating Freedom of Information and Privacy
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| Prof Ralph Turvey (chairman of CRI) on left and Richard Thomas (The Information Commissioner) on right |
The School of Management’s Centre for the study of Regulated Industries (CRI) held an Occasional Lecture in London’s National Liberal Club on Wednesday 9th January, given by the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas.
Entitled ‘Freedom of Information and Privacy ~ The Regulatory Role of the Information Commissioner’, the lecture was chaired by Professor Ralph Turvey. Richard gave a passionate defence of both freedom of information and data protection, demonstrating that there was no significant conflict between them. He declared his mission was to promote the disclosure of public information whilst protecting personal information. He also showed that both were in the interest of good government and believed that the principles were now widely accepted. He also showed in his case examples that data protection was not to be used as an excuse for avoiding relevant disclosure.
The audience of 50 included key figures, such as Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chairman of the Food Standards Agency, Martin Stanley, Chief Executive of the Competition Commission, Paul Boyle, Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council, and the last Rail Regulator, Tom Winsor. Richard Thomas took the opportunity to say that, if he was to be truly effective, his growing duties needed to be accompanied by more powers and resources.
Notes to Editors
The CRI is an interdisciplinary research centre investigating how regulation and competition are working in practice, both in the UK and abroad. It is independent and politically neutral. It aims to produce authoritative, practical contributions to regulatory policy and debate, which are put into the public domain. The CRI focuses on comparative analyses across the regulated industries. CRI activities and outputs include:
- Regulatory statistics, information and analysis
- Discussion papers and Occasional papers
- Regulatory Briefs, Reviews and International series
- Research Reports and Technical papers
- Seminars, courses and conferences
For further information / press enquiries, contact:
Tom Mitchell, Marketing Officer
School of Management
University of Bath
Claverton Down
Bath BA2 7AY
UK
Tel:+ 44 (0) 1225 386856
Fax: + 44 (0) 1225 383902
Email: pr@management.bath.ac.uk
General Notes For Editors:
The University of Bath School of Management has consistently achieved both top research and teaching ratings in the UK's Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) assessments. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the School was rated 5th in the UK for management research.
We are one of a select number of international business schools accredited by EQUIS, the European Foundation for Management Development's quality inspectorate and the Bath MBA has been accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA) since 1976. The School is consistently ranked among the top UK business schools by The Times, The Financial Times and The Guardian.
The centrality of research to teaching is an essential feature of all our programmes. The School offers a full range of programmes from undergraduate to postgraduate up to PhD level and post-experience programmes including the world-ranked Bath MBA. The School also provides tailored executive development programmes for middle and senior management.
The School of Management has a faculty of around 90 teaching and research staff, including visiting academics, with a support team of around 70 managerial and administrative staff. Research income averages £2 million per annum. There are approximately 2,100 students in total comprising some 200 MBA students, 370 Master’s students, 210 full- and part-time research students, and over 1100 undergraduates following BSc degrees. The School also runs joint undergraduate programmes with Departments in the Faculties of Engineering and Design, Science, and European Studies and Modern Languages.
