The investigation into the activities of newspapers continues. I was struggling to identify what the point of the inquiry was so as per usual, I checked out Wiki because the official Levenson Inquiry website was out of action.
This is what Wikipedia says about the Leveson phone hacking inquiry
The Leveson Inquiry[1] is an ongoing public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal.
This statement ask more questions that it answers.
First of all what has it got to do with government what the “culture” is in the British media. Why would the government want in identifying cultures and what do they hope to achieve with their findings and who interprets the findings?
About ethics, who decides what is ethical or not? Surely the law courts are there for this purpose, so why are millions of pounds of taxpayer money being spent on this inquiry?
The Levenson enquiry takes place under the authority of the Inquiries Act 2005 of which Amnesty International says the following
Amnesty International has asked members of the British judiciary not to serve on any inquiry held under the Act, as they contend that “any inquiry would be controlled by the executive which is empowered to block public scrutiny of state actions.” [3]
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Freedom Of Information Request into cost of Leveson Inquiry
FOI
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
6 December 2011
Dear Mr Walker
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 8 November. You
asked:
“1. Out of which account are the costs of the Leveson Inquiry paid?
2. Please supply copies of the accounts for the Leveson Inquiry to
date.  Â
3. Please supply copies of projected costs for the Leveson Inquiry.”
I have dealt with your request under the terms of the Freedom of
information Act 2000 (the Act).
The Leveson Inquiry is a joint Inquiry set up by the Secretaries of State
for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport and the Home Department, and is
funded by those two Departments. The Inquiry has a responsibility to
contribute to the Government’s system of democratic accountability and
transparency and will be publishing the expenditure incurred regularly on
the Inquiry’s dedicated website.
No information is held in relation to “accounts” of the Leveson Inquiry to
date. However, the information will be published in due course on the
Inquiry’s website ([1]http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk). Information which
is held relating to costs incurred so far is therefore held with a view to
future publication, and is therefore exempt under section 22 of the Act.
We have considered whether it would be reasonable for the information to
be published at this stage, but consider that it would be more
informative, and sit better in context, if the information were published
in a more orderly fashion and were to be available on the Inquiry’s own
website where the majority of the information about the Inquiry sits.
Finally, a sum of £9.7m has been set aside for the first part of the
Inquiry, which includes cover for any emerging costs such as applications
for public funding from those involved with the Inquiry. This figure will,
therefore, be subject to revision as the Inquiry proceeds.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Complaints and comments
As is customary in our replies, I would like to explain that if you are
dissatisfied with any aspect of our response to your request for
information and/or wish to appeal against information being withheld from
you please send full details within two calendar months of the date of
this email to:Â [2][email address]
You have the right to ask the Information Commissioner (ICO) to
investigate any aspect of your complaint. Please note that the ICO is
likely to expect internal complaints procedures to have been exhausted
before beginning his investigation.
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