You have to laugh don't you when the Freedom of Information section on the Department of Communties and Local Government has been broken now for at least two weeks, wicked irony I'd say. Bizarrely, when you click on it the webserver responds by saying it has been "Moved Temporarily" and redirects you to a non-functional address. Strange that no one at DCLG seems to have noticed though. Has the FoI just assumed that it's a particularly quiet period? Do they have no monitoring in place?
When I spoke to someone at DCLG they didn't seem to know either, in fact, I'm waiting for them to call me back. I only managed to get through to someone after having to deal with a switchboard operator with the strangest accent known to man - that means I kept on having to repeat what she said just to be sure - and then being dumped into lots of different queues which assured me that the call was "important to us".
It's not just no freedom of information, it seems to be no information!
Update: The nice people at the web team called me back. The link of the front page is the problem. So there you go then!
2 comments:
Switchboard operators with strange accents can be a problem. I called my local council and asked to speak to the Footpaths Officer. I was put through to the ante-natal clinic.
I've recently had my own brush with bureaucracy gone mad. Apparently, I've not paid my TV Licence. Of course, I have, but it seems the Post Office has recorded my address twice, the second time with a slightly different postcode.
TV Licencing advised me of this a couple of months ago when I received a threatening letter, which was sorted out ... then I received a threatening letter ... which was sorted out ... then I received a threatening knock at the door.
Now, it seems, TV Licensing can do nothing about the letters THEY send out, because every time they cross-check with the Post Office database, I'm actioned as not having a licence. Apparently, it's my problem.
When I advised that they are responsible for their own letters, and the services THEY use, I received a very official response. The phone was slammed down on me.
Welcome to dictatorial bureaucratic Britain.
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