How will the Spending Review affect people in Birmingham?

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I’ve just spent a couple of hours gathering demographic data about Birmingham to get an idea of how different parts of the city will be affected by today’s Spending Review.

The first thing I’ve visualised is what sectors are people working in in the city’s 8 constituencies. From this you can, for example, see that a large proportion of people in Hodge Hill work in public administration, education or health – likely to be particularly badly hit – while Yardley has the smallest proportion of workers in the public sector, and so is likely to escape job cuts. 

public sector employment in Birmingham

You can see the map visualisation in action here. Because of the scale of the colouring, differences in some job sectors are harder to see clearly (where the differences are smaller).

The next step is to go through the spending review to see what industries might be affected and how that maps out in the region.

It will also be worth trying to find other data, such as numbers claiming welfare. 

And also worth exploring is whether the hardest-hit areas are likely to have any influence politically. If they change their vote in the next election, will it actually matter? The Voter Power Index could come in useful here.

Data sources: Data is from 2007 and is taken from BirminghamEconomy. I had to copy them from individual PDFs, sadly, and collate them in a series of spreadsheets, which are published here.

CIJ Summer School: Web Detective Tools & Techniques

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By Chie Elliott

One of the sessions I most enjoyed at the CIJ Summer School in July 2010 for its sheer “geekiness” was Paul Myers’ Web Detective. As my attendance was kindly sponsored by Help Me Investigate, I will be sharing my notes from the course on this blog, so that other HMI investigators can also benefit from the knowledge.

Paul Myers works as a researcher, investigator and trainer at the BBC, specialising in finding information on the Internet. This may sound obvious in an age when even a four-year-old seems to know how to buy a car on EBay using his parents’ credit card, but Myers goes well beyond your average advance googling and setting up RSS feeds into what to me sounds like James Bond territory.

Starting with basics
  • Web investigations can be started with basic use of search engines. A search on Bing may give you different results from one on Google; it is worth using both to compare. Filter your search as much as possible by entering as many relevant key words or criteria as possible in your search. Personally I find this “Google search cheat sheet” quite useful, but I also came across this BBC Training page, by Myers, which explains why some words serve as ‘anchors’, others as ‘rudders’ when organising your search.
  • Do not estimate social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, as sources of information. They can give you an insight not only on the person’s online (and offline) social activities, but what messages they are leaving on other people’s “walls”. If you find out a person’s online ID/username on one site, this is likely to help you track them on multiple sites.

General search tips
  • Knowing the email address of the person you are investigating about can be a most helpful piece of information, as it allows you to narrow down the search, as opposed to searching by name. Even if you do not know their email, remember that people often have web-based email accounts such as Hotmail or Gmail, so try a combination of name or online ID + hotmailATcom or gmailATcom, etc.
  • Don’t forget that sometimes people use different spelling for their names. Try variations. 
  • Resist entering names in quotes for added search flexibility. Instead of “John Smith” try using John*Smith. The * (asterisk) in between ensures proximity between the two names in the results. For instance, if you wanted to find out any information about Obama in relation to the World Cup, enter: Obama*”world cup”.
  • You can search within specific sites. With Google Custom Search, you can custom build your search to specific websites or webpages.

People Finders
  • Pipl.com – a “deep web search” using name, email address or username. For Americans, the site also offers the option of searching by telephone number. Enter any name or email address and test the search. You will be aghast at how comprehensive the gathered information is.
  • A similar search tool is 123People, which will basically give you an online profile for that person’s name, including all social networking accounts, even Amazon Wish Lists.
  • 192.com allows you to search phone books, electoral rolls, business information, company credit reports, birth, marriage and death certificates.

Website info finder
  • WHOIS queries remote WHOIS databases for domain registration information. You can find out when and by whom a domain was registered and their contact information. Each number on an IP address is linked to either a user or a web server. This service is free of charge, but did not fall under Myer’s list of most recommended.
  • With DomainTools, you can even check previous registrations of domain names. By clicking on its Reverse IP service, you can look on the server to see what other other addresses/domains are hosted on the same IP address. For investigative journalists, who do not want to be searched in this way, it is therefore good to be aware that by using Domains by Proxy, you can hide your IP address. 

“Cyber condoms”
  • The expression above belongs to Paul Myers. With so many advance search tools available on the web, investigators also need to protect themselves against their own weapons. If you do not want your searches to be tracked down, apart from deleting your Web History, you can search anonymously using the free service of Anonymouse.org. It is the wise spy entering the house with gloves on so that no fingerprints are left behind.
  • An alternative is to download the open source software Tor, which will anonymise your connections to the Internet and prevent people from discovering which sites you visit as well as blocking the sites you visit from learning your location. 

For more tools recommended by Myers and useful links to help you understand every aspect of searching and being searched online, visit Paul Myers’ Research Clinic website. 

Why is the Electoral Commission trying to make life difficult for journalists?

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That’s the question that David Higgerson is asking after casting his eye over the results of various investigations into electoral expenses, and a Freedom of Information response from the Electoral Commission revealing “that it told councils there was ‘no provision in law’ for people to take notes from the expenses

“Several authorities had sought information on what to do if reporters asked to look at the documents, and the response from the Commission’s North West team was:

In the absence of any definitive legislation on this point, the prudent option is to inform the paper that ‘inspect’ does not extend to the taking of notes. To that end, if the paper wishes to look at the returns in more detail at a later date, (for what ever purpose) they should purchase a copies.

Higgerson points out that “while there is nothing in law which says people can take notes, there’s nothing in the law which says people can’t – so why make the distinction?”

More on David Higgerson’s blog here.

You can join one of the various investigations into election expenses here. If you want to start your own there’s plenty of advice on this blog – post a comment if you want help.

Tories’ child benefit plans – giving to the mothers, taking from the fathers?

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The government announced this week that they plan to withdraw child benefit for couples where either parent earns above £44,000. Some have seen this as an attack on women, as child benefit is one of the few benefits to be paid to the mother. But the devil in the detail may reveal just the opposite.

Why? Because the benefit will not actually be withdrawn, but clawed back through the tax system. And as there is a gender gap between male and female earnings, and women are more likely to work part time, the money will most likely be paid by fathers.

To illustrate how this might pan out, I’ve quickly visualised some pay statistics from 2008 which show how annual earnings are distributed between men and women (screengrab below). Men hit the £44,000 point around the 85th percentile – but women don’t hit it until after the 90th. In fact, even when you look at women working full time only, earnings at the 90th percentile are around £40,000, and there is no data on what percentage of women are earning over £44,000 (although I’m going to keep looking for this).

What does this mean? Well, some family discord at least, given that money is one of the subjects couples most argue about (statistical support needed!). You might also argue that it is – if ever so slightly – addressing the gender gap in pay, if clumsily to say the least.

How I got here: The data is available in full at this spreadsheet, which was obtained through this PDF on the national statistics website, which I found in turn from in the references on this study into gender equality, that I found from this search. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes.

gender gap in pay, 2008

Useful resource on planning

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If you're investigating something to do with planning or buildings, there's a very useful Guide to the Planning System at Planning Aid. The organisation provides planning advice to people who cannot afford expensive legal advice, so it's also a useful resource to bookmark if you ever need to ask a quick question about planning procedures.

Rather frustratingly, most of the useful information on the site is contained in PDFs, which means you cannot find specific information by searching for it. But as the service is provided by a network of volunteers, I'm going to volunteer my time to help address that. You might want to too.

Local MP’s expenses in Cardiff, and National Newspaper Crowdsourcing…

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The Guardian are continuing  with the nation-wide enquiries  into MP?s elections expenses, this time focusing their efforts locally on Cardiff but mirroring the moves made by Helpmeinvestigate.

The article explains the precise but scarcely known figures behind the expenses claims for the short and long campaign respectively. The run-up to the elections, or the short-campaign, is where spending is at its most frantic and is the key point of interest for journalists.

This seems appropriate for Cardiff, as when the figures came in, successful candidate for Cardiff North Jonathan Evans had spent ?9,968 of his ?10,412 short campaign budget.

Upon having requested all of the receipts from the short campaign, just as Helpmeinvestigate members had done, it was found that there were various receipts missing or unaccounted for and dubious amounts were spent on DIY and a personal website.

The whole of the campaign was conducted and expenditure recorded in accordance with the laws in place, and, as per yet, there are no conclusions being drawn as the expenses are still being looked over by the electoral commission.

It?s good to see them leave the data open to the public and allow for crowd sourced interpretation and investigation, similar to the way in which they handled the new Birmingham council website and it?s questionable costings.

There may be other findings when the electoral commission complete their reviews of MP?s expenses nationwide, and other stories may be unveiled as they near completion.

Using the Audit Commission Act 1998: Investigating local government accounts

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The Freedom of Information Act is something many of us are now quite familiar with and a method that often throws up pros and cons in gathering less ‘public’ pieces of information.

So, if you’ve tried an FOI request and been knocked back for any number of reasons, is there anything else you can use to gather that vital snippet of data that could make front page news?

Well, if you’re interested in accounts or any kind of financial expenditure and you want to investigate local government, then using the Audit Commission Act is another possibility.

Richard Orange of Orchard News Bureau Ltd provided a useful insight into the Act and how it can be used at this year’s CIJ Summer School.

What is the Audit Commission Act?

The Act permits the inspection and copying of local government accounts for the preceeding financial year. This includes “contracts, bills, vouchers, deeds and receipts.”

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, accounts must be open for inspection for 20 working days (15 working days in Scotland). These dates must be advertised in a Public Notice in a newspaper circulating in the council/police authority area.

What are your rights under the Act?

As long as you have a home or business address in the borough concerned, you have the right:

– To inspect statements of accounts (by elector)
– To inspect and make copies of all contracts, books, deeds, vouchers, receipts, bills and invoices under audit (‘by persons interested’)
 – To object to the accounts (by elector)

How to use the Act

If you want to look at your local council’s accounts, here are a few easy steps to follow:

– Find out the dates the accounts are open to view
– Work out exactly what it is you are interested in before going to view them – the more specific you are the less chance you will experience problems or be swamped with information you do not need
– Once you have worked out what information you are interested in, view the accounts at the earliest opportunity. There is only a 20 day window, so going on day 15 and then realising you need to delve deeper probably means you’ll run out of time before the cut-off
– Make your requests as specific as possible – don’t just ask for all council expenditure, specify the area you want to focus on e.g. PR
– Take any copies of information you need – you may want to revisit it later on when the window to view accounts has closed

Be prepared for ‘excuses’ and challenge them

You may come up against some ‘reasons’ why you cannot do certain things under the Act. Below are some examples you may find, however none are applicable under the law:

– ‘all requests must be put in writing’
– ‘you must make an appointment to view’
– ‘we need to get permission to show you that’
– ‘you are only allowed to see the statement of accounts’
– ‘we need to know why you are asking for the information’
– ‘information about members of staff cannot be viewed’

How do I know when my local council’s accounts are open to view?

The lovely people at Orchard News Bureau have compiled a list of when the major local authorities are open to inspection:
– County councils (England)
– Unitary councils (England)
– Police authorities (England)
And there’s plenty more here too.

And finally

Don’t be put off by any attempts to prevent you from accessing the information you want. Under the law, you have the right to view, copy and object to any accounts kept by your local council (as long as you are an ‘elector’ or ‘persons interested’).

You can uncover some really interesting information using the Act. The key is to know what you’re looking for and request information at the earliest opportunity to allow for subsequent requests should you need them. 

A useful presentation (from 2008) by Richard shows some examples of how the Audit Commission Act has been used to hold local council’s to account.

Does scrapping speed cameras save money?

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The investigation into 'Do speed cameras save or cost money?' has been gathering some interesting information in the past few weeks.?

A blog post on 'Cycling around Hull' sums up the story so far: based on figures from the safety camera program "From 2000 to 2007 the average revenue [money made] was ?10 million/yr."

So why are councils scrapping the schemes? Because it's the Treasury that gets that revenue, not local authorities.?

"The safety camera program is funded centrally and receipts are passed back to government. Government has cut central funding by about 1/3 while still taking receipts leaving roughly a ?38 million hole."

Meanwhile,?

"An interesting figure to note is the cost of personal injuries of prevented accidents, the?The national safety camera programme: four-year evaluation report?estimates this roughly amounts to ?258 million for 2003/4.

"To put things in perspective the same report claims total cost of road accidents (including property damage, police and insurance costs) in 2002 was ?17.8bn."

The investigation still needs to gather more information. If you want to help – or are just curious – join in at http://helpmeinvestigate.com/investigations/179.

Help investigate the mystery ClimateCamp oil slick – the story so far

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Over the weekend an investigation has been progressing into police claims of an "extremely reckless and dangerous act" that they linked to Edinburgh's ClimateCamp.

In their press release last week,?Lothian and Borders Police put out a press release stating that around 9.30am "it was discovered that two arterial routes to Edinburgh were badly affected after a substance similar to diesel or vegetable oil was poured onto the carriageways.

"City of Edinburgh Council had to use 7.5 tonnes of grit to clean the A720 at Bankhead and the west bound A8.

"Lothian Buses removed its vehicles from the roads for a spell while the cleaning operation was carried out. The roads were never closed, but Police urged motorists to proceed with caution until noon when the road was clear once more."

Despite the press release being widely reported in the press, investigations on the site have so far found no evidence of any oil slick on the A720 or A8 in records from Traffic Scotland or the UK Traffic Reports Archive, which?aggregates (and stores) traffic updates from the UK highways agency, and Traffic Scotland, amongst other bodies.

Guardian Local in Edinburgh have submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on the matter. The police have suggested they re-apply in two months.?

Other members of the investigation have submitted separate FOI requests on separate matters.

The investigation still needs help following up avenues with possible witnesses and other bodies that would have been affected by such an oil slick. If you want to join in, sign up at http://helpmeinvestigate.com/investigations/187 – and if you need an invite, just drop me a line on paul (at) helpmeinvestigate.com