Government and Information: The Law Relating to Access, Disclosure and their Regulation – A Book Review

 by Brian Risman, Publisher and Founder, The Law Journal UK

Government and Information: The Law Relating to Access, Disclosure and Their Regulation is a highly detailed and well organised law text that is of value to legal practitioners -- as well as law students -- in mastering this growing and important area of law.

Government and Information: The Law Relating to Access, Disclosure and Their Regulation by Birkinshaw and Varney is a comprehensive and detailed examination of the law in this increasing critical and developing area of law.  It is of value to law students as a first text in the subject, but also as an advanced work for graduate research and legal practice. Freedom of Information is an area of law that overlaps many traditional areas, making this work of value to legal practitioners in differing specialisations of practice.

Government and Information: The Law Relating to Access, Disclosure and Their Regulation starts with a detailed view of the Freedom of Information legislation, including the role of the Information Commissioner, White Papers on the subject, as well as the Scottish and Welsh legislation. It then examines issues regarding the Central Government, such as the Official Secrets Act, Police Powers, Security Classifications, the Security Service Acts, as well as the challenges of dealing with the Internet. The book then moves into European law in this area, followed by issues involving Local Government such as 'whistleblower' arrangements. After covering these areas of government individually, the book becomes more issue-oriented. It looks at the restrictions on the use of (and access to) information by public officials at any level of government. Public access to information, access to meetings, personal information and privacy are covered in detail. Concepts of open government, judicial review and litigation are then discussed.

As can be seen from this summary of the contents, this work is highly detailed and of great value to any member of the legal community no matter their area of interest and practice. This work, covering 979 pages, is well indexed, which aids the busy reader to quickly narrow down the search for their area of concern regarding this topic. Hence, while this book is comprehensive, it is easily accessible for retrieving the appropriate information.

This book is an excellent resource on a challenging topic -- one that covers many traditional areas of practice, yet remains well organised and coherent throughout.

For more information on purchasing this book, please click on the link below.

Government and Information: The Law Relating to Access, Disclosure and Their Regulation  is published by Bloomsbury Professional. Please note that The Law Journal UK takes no responsibility for the contents of this book, or works by other authors.

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Brian Risman

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