FOIA Guide : British standards

BSI have produced a guide to the Freedom of Information Act in the UK. Can be ordered via the BSi website

Report on readiness for FOI by Henley Management centre

Source: Government computing

A report on the public sector's readiness for the Freedom of Information Act suggests many organisations will struggle to cope with its demands

Only a minority of public sector organisations will be ready to cope with the demands of the Freedom of Information Act when it takes effect at the beginning of 2005, according to new research.

Freedom of Information, Prepared to meet the challenge? was compiled by the Henley Centre and commissioned by BT. It states there are various shortcomings in the way public authorities are preparing for the introduction of the Act.

The report highlights three areas of the research providing cause for concern:
-Although nearly all organisations acknowledge the importance of the Act, only 54% claim to know a "great deal" or "quite a lot" about it. This suggests that 46% are currently under-prepared.
-Over half admit they do not know the extent of public demand, and those who have a view believe it will not be particularly heavy.
-Most intend to deal with the pressure by focusing on human resources, processes and procedures, but have not properly addressed the need for ITC support.

Interview with the Scottish Information Commissioner

E-government bulletin: Recently-appointed information
commissioner Kevin Dunion talks to Dan Jellinek about the way
ahead. Includes some interesting reflections on the differences between the UK and Scottish FOI regimes.

Get Ready for FOI

18 June 2003: Government Computing

Don't moan about the Freedom of Information Act if you've not yet prepared for it, says a UK Government minister

Public sector organisations need to appoint senior personnel to co-ordinate their efforts to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FoI), a minister from the new Department for Constitutional Affairs has said.

Lord Filkin said they also need to invest in systems to ensure they can meet the requirements of the Act when it comes into force at the beginning of 2005. He was speaking on 17 June 2003 at a conference on the issue organised by BT.

New responsbility for FOI in the UK
The Guardian Reports that the new department of constitutional affairs will cover privacy, data-sharing, data protection and freedom of information, following last week's reshuffle.

New resposnsbility for FOI?

Will the Freedom of Information Act be the repsonsbility for the new Department of Constitional Affairs announced yesterday

New Freedom of Information Act Timetable for Scotland

The Scottish Executivehas set published a new timetable for the implementation of the FOIA (Scotland) Act, the deadline for full implementation is now 1st january 2005, a full year earlier than previously stated in the legislatron.

Officials ignore freedom of information

Almost one in three government departments do not yet know the deadline for the Freedom of Information Act, even though 75 per cent are confident of hitting it.

Research conducted by The Stationery Office (TSO) found that three-quarters of government departments have yet to set a budget for tackling FOI compliance, even though most rank it as more important than the 2005 e-government targets and second only behind the Data Protection Act.

Source : VNUNET

Report to the Scottish Pariament on progress on implmentation of the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002

Published in PDF format on the Scottisg Executive website.

Information Commissioner to speak at Plenary session - Umbrella 2003 16.30 Friday 4 July.

Richard Thomas, the Information Comissioner will speak at Umbrella organsied by CILIP ( Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), 3 - 5 July, Umist, Manchester. The programme also features further speeched on FOI.

Full speaker biography

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER TELLS PUBLIC BODIES TO "GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER"

The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas today called upon government departments, local authorities and other public bodies to 'get their Act together'. He wants to ensure they are prepared for the introduction of the legal Right to Know The Right to Know is the right (under the Freedom of Information Act 2000) held by members of the public to request access to any information held by any public body from January 2005 under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in January 2005.

In a speech at the "Access to Information" conference held by the Constitution Unit and Capita Learning and Development today, Richard Thomas announced that he will soon be sending "Are you Getting Ready?" checklists to the leaders of a random sample of public bodies.

IC Press Release

Warning about publication schemes and the Freedom of Information Act

The Information Commissioner has sent a letter to all public authorities in the NHS, reminding them of their responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act.

Under the Act all public authorities must adopt and maintain a publication scheme, which has been approved by the Information Commissioner, by 31 October 2003.
Source:
Medical Protection Society