A freedom curtailed by codes

Article about FOI in Wales, offers cricism of the Welsh Assembly Code of Practice, based on one case rather than an overview of the code as a whole which has many positive aspects (e.g publication of cabinet minutes)

ICWales

"I invoked the Code when I was seeking disclosure of a letter of complaint sent to BBC Wales by Tim Hartley, the Assembly's then head of news. A reliable source had told us that the letter, which took issue with the BBC's coverage of an Objective One story, was well over the top and could be compared with UK Government bullying of the BBC over its coverage of the Iraq war....Even though the First Minister eventually agreed to release the letter, he only did so once the "dialogue" was over and after all relevant individuals had signified their approval"

Read the National Assembly For Wales Code Of Practice On Public Access To Information
Second Edition (2001)

Act Now -Summary of Scottish Freedom of Information Conference

Conference- 6th October 2004 Edinburgh
http://www.actnow.org.uk/scot.pdf

Freedom of Information - Department of Constitutional Affairs Speaks on the Issue of Copyright
27 October 2004
Article by Richard Best

Mondaq.com

"This article provides an update on the issue of whether a public authority is permitted to make a copy of documents, otherwise protected by copyright, when responding to a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA"), whose right of access to information held by public authorities comes into force in January 2005.

This issue was discussed briefly in an article earlier this year.(1) The reason for that discussion was the then recent debate in public circles to the effect that a public authority might not, when responding to an information request, be permitted to make a copy of documents supplied to it by a third party if those documents were subject to copyright protection. Specifically, the article noted that, in a forum posting of 24 June 2004, a Copyright Officer of the Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on National Records and Archives, wrote that government lawyers had concluded that the supply of a copy of a copyright document in response to a FOIA request could infringe copyright. It had been reported that the view of government lawyers in the Department for Constitutional Affairs ("DCA") and DTI was that FOIA did not "specifically authorise" such copying in terms of section 50(1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and that "official guidance [would] be published on the issue in due course". The article contended that arguably FOIA does specifically authorise the copying of copyright documents for the purpose of complying with information requests, that this was likely to have been Parliament's intention and that, if that were not the case, public authorities might have difficulty in complying with the Act."

Higher Eduaction and Further Eduaction and related sectors

Are You Ready?
Freedom of Information / Records Management for FE (also with relevance for HE institutions)
In November / December, JISC Legal is offering a series of regional workshops offered in collaboration with JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs) and JISC InfoNet, aimed at the tertiary education sector. Book direct with RSCs for the events, or for queries as to content contact us at JISC Legal (info@jisclegal.ac.uk) or at JISC infoNet (jiscinfonet@northumbria.ac.uk).

More information

FOI overview for Coucils - example

Redcar and Cleveland have made a powerpoint presentation available on their website

Computer weekly articles

Government snubs MPs over IT project secrecy
The government has snubbed proposals from a committee of MPs to publish details of its risky IT projects in the same week as it declared a "new culture of openness" in Whitehall.

Council IT not ready for Freedom of Information
With less than 10 weeks left to go, local authorities are still not ready to meet the demands of the Freedom of Information Act, which comes into force on 1 January 2005.

Stop press: DCA publishes FOI guidance on web

Today the DCA has published FOI guidance on web, see details at:

http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/guidance/index.htm

Contains:

Procedural Guidance
-A guide to processing information requests.
Introduction to Exemptions
-An introductory guide to the use of exemptions.
Summaries of Exemptions
-A summary of each exemption, highlighting the key issues.
Exemptions Guidance
-Detailed guidance on the use of exemptions and factors to be taken into account when considering their application.

Have not read them all yet, will comment in a later posting

Freedom of Information Records Manager Edinburgh

The Scottish Agricultural College is now looking for a forward thinking Records Manager who will be able to implement the new record management policies and procedures. You must have experience of developing and implementing records management systems and be able to provide the best advice on record-keeping issues. You must be articulate and confident in your approach to your work and most of all love a challenge. The skills required are knowledge of Data protection issues and Freedom of Information act (not essential but must be willing to learn) this role is for a dynamic and enthusiastic person.

SAC is a Scottish organisation dedicated to innovation and the transfer of knowledge to the land based industries. Our 900 staff provides consultancy, research, education & training services to rural businesses and communities via a nation-wide network of around 40 business units

Please send your CV to Gill.McNaught@Hudson.com in the First Instance

Salary up to £32000 per annum. A final Salary Pension Scheme is in operation.

German "Freedom of Information Act" on its way

"After the parliamentary groups of Germany's governing parties, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens, as early as August agreed on its basic outline, a Freedom of Information Bill is said to be in preparation for passage as early as next year.

only certain files deemed especially worthy of protection are to be excluded from the citizens' right in principle to access such information. All the same, the drafts of the Freedom of Information Bill have already attracted criticism from data watchdogs : The Data Protection Commissioner of the German Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, Thilo Weichert, has critically fingered the "very broadly styled general clauses, which can be used to justify the withholding of information".

Heise online

Access to secret files threatened by asbestos

Daily Telegraph 25th October

"Up to 10 million pages of vital military secrets have been rendered unusable by exposure to asbestos - and experts say the contamination threatens the operation of the Freedom of Information Act. The 63,000 files include many nuclear secrets and the official versions of events such as the sinking of the Belgrano in 1982 and the killing of IRA terrorists in Gibraltar by the SAS in 1988."

The paper chase ... and how to avoid it

Guardian 25th October

"The Freedom of Information Act comes into force in two months, requiring extra care in filing and finding documents. Cathryn Janes on the skills of archiving and retrieval"

Councils escape cost of freedom law

"Lord Falconer set the record straight when he told a Society of Editors' dinner that the government would fund councils in full under "the new burden doctrine" - a pledge made to councils by the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, that any extra duties imposed would be comprehensively funded by Whitehall."

Guardian Politics section

Constitutional Affairs Committee:Implementation of Freedom of Information

Tuesday 26th Oct 9.30 am
Baroness Ashton of Upholland, Parlaimentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs

Listen at www.parliamentlive.tv

The full uncorrected evidence from the 19th October: Councillor Peter Chalke, Dr Lydia Pollard, Faith Boardman And Kath Matley, Richard Thomas, Graham Smith And Phil Boyd

House of Commons/Lords: Members' allowances

Prompted by FOI these are now available on the Parliament website

The publication has picked up plenty of press and has helped improve the profile of FOI in the media

Also see BBC website

Interview with Maurice Frankel, Director of the Campaign for the Freedom of Information

Interesting interview at freedomofinformation.co.uk

Freedom of Information Act: None of Our Business? Opportunities and Challenges for the Private Sector

Conference: Wednesday, December 1st, 2004, The Hatton, London, EC1

http://www.privacylaws.com/conferences/other/foi.htm

New publication from UCL Conistitution Unit

A Practical Guide to the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 (October 2004 edition)
by Jim Amos; Sarah Holsen, October 2004 , ISBN 1 903903 35 1
Report: 48 pp., £10.00

"The Unit has drawn on the combined expertise of its Freedom of Information researchers and associates to prepare this guide to the UK Freedom of Information Act for public officials who will be involved in handling requests under the Act. The guide focuses on the practical aspects of handling requests, drawing in relevant experience from overseas and offering helpful practical tips for implementing an effective freedom of information regime"

Business gets access to official data free of charge

FT.com 19th Oct

"Businesses will be able to demand previously undisclosed details of public sector contracts free of charge under the new Freedom of Information Act, Lord Falconer signalled yesterday.....Experience of similar regimes in other countries suggests the private sector will be one of the biggest users of the legislation as a way of seeking information about public contracts, tenders and rival companies"

Freedom of information rules may change

"Deputy information commissioner Graham Smith told the all-party constitutional affairs select committee: "There are provisions under the Act for the secretary of state to vary up to the maximum permitted of 60 working days...It was understood that any change to the 20-working-day rule would only be allowed in very limited circumstances."

Guardian website

Increased use of the power to extend deadlines under Canadian law

See research note from Al Roberts at University of Syracuse

"The data shows a four-fold increase in the use of discretion on extension of
deadlines over four years, largely a response to the Information
Commissioner's clamp-down on problems of "mute refusal.""

Techies hamstrung by bosses on Freedom of Information

Article on Silicon.com

"A survey of senior government IT execs by change management consultancy Partners for Change found that 78 per cent of government bodies won't be able to comply with one of the Act's main provisions, which states that government agencies will have to answer any query from the public within 21 days......Joan Fenelly, consultant at Partners for Change, said that some government bodies have been banking on not being punished even if they do miss the deadline."

Millions Wasted on FOI Compliance?

Press Release: E-consultancy website

"Are public sector organisations are being convinced to spend a fortune on document management systems to manage Freedom of Information (FOI) enquiries? For most a powerful internet search engine would suffice, according to System Associates."

Freedom law 'could increase council tax bills'

Guardian 19th Oct

Peter Chalke, Conservative vice chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), is set to give evidence to the constitutional affairs committee on the Freedom of Information Act, which from January will enable the public to request information held by 100,000 public authorities, including councils.

Listen now at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/

Falcolner sets out fees strcuture in speech

The DCA press release below:

Department for Constitutional Affairs (National)

press release

MOST FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS FOR FREE - FALCONER

The vast majority of requests made under the new Freedom of Information rights will be free, the Government announced today.

For information which costs public bodies less than £450 to retrieve and collate, there will be no charge. This is roughly equivalent to two and a half days of work, for free. Government departments will only be able to charge where costs rise above £600 (which equates to about three and a half days work).

Constitutional Affairs Secretary Lord Falconer, who made the announcement at the Society of Editors annual conference in Newcastle today, said:

"This Government introduced the legislation to change the culture of official information, and we believe it should be free. A fees structure which is simple to understand and easy to operate follows the spirit of the legislation.

"We don't want cost to deter people from asking about the policy discussions which influence their children's education, the way hospitals treat and care for their parents or the way police patrol their neighbourhoods."

From 1 January people will have a right to information about the way decisions are made, and public money is spent, by more than 100,000 public authorities, including Government departments, schools, NHS Trusts, police forces and local authorities.

Anyone, of any nationality, and living anywhere in the world, will be able to make a written request for information, and expect a response within 20 working days.

Public authorities have already published details of the types of information which will be released proactively on websites - far more will be available on request.

The Freedom of Information Act is an important component of the constitutional reform programme.

Lord Falconer said:

"Greater access to information will improve the dialogue between public bodies making decisions and the people affected by them.

"We want people to play a greater role in policy-making at all levels, not just through the ballot box, but through consultations, forums and other, less formal, contacts with public bodies. The long-term aim of this greater scrutiny and dialogue is to improve decision-making.

"We have always maintained that the majority of costs arising from this legislation should be met by the public purse. But authorities will have the option either to charge the full cost of the more complicated and time-consuming requests which take longer to research and edit, or to not carry them out on cost grounds."

Material which could be released in response to requests covers all recorded information and includes paper files, computer files, internal e-mails, audio and video recordings, brochures and photographs. Legislation is fully retrospective. Public authorities are obliged to respond to requests within 20 working days.

The legislation is designed to strike a balance between people's right to know, and the need for Government to be able to govern effectively and to achieve this there are exemptions to cover areas such as defence, national security, commercial confidentiality and personal data.

Lord Falconer said:

"The exemptions will be used where it is in the public interest to do so, but they are not there as a smoke screen, to cover for negligence or embarrassment. The Information Commissioner has announced his intention to closely monitor the way they are used, which I have welcomed. Both the Government and the Information Commissioner will ensure the spirit of the legislation is maintained."

Notes to Editors

1. The full text of Lord Falconer's speech to the Society of Editors annual conference (18 October 2004) at the Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle, is available on the DCA website: http://www.dca.gov.uk

2. Guidance on implementing the fees system will be issued to public authorities later in the autumn, including the £450 and £600 limits.

3. Public authorities can charge the full cost of copying, printing, postage and other disbursements.

4. Further information about the Freedom of Information can be found at: http://www.foi.gov.uk

5. About 100,000 public authorities are subject to the Act. A full list of types of public body: http://www.foi.gov.uk/coverage.htm

Press release ends

Fees pledge on information act

Falconer promises low user cost for legislation that will bring 'more trust' in government

Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent
Monday October 18, 2004
The Guardian

"Lord Falconer, the constitutional affairs secretary, promises today that the government will not charge prohibitive fees for information under the Freedom of Information Act."

Read the full story

Plus also the full intervew

New Freedom of Information website

A new FOI website has been launched : www.freedomofinformation.co.uk offering some interesting content and services. The site is run by a journalist, John Ashton who has published several interviews on the site, interviewees include Rob Evans from the Guardian, The Scottish Information Commissioner and ex Deputy Information Commissioner John Woulds.

The site also offers services in FOIA consultancy and FOIA research related to:

-Companies, the media, campaign groups and the public on how to use the Act to gather information.

-Public bodies and private companies on how to handle the Act while maintaining good public relations.

Brief study into pay and responsibilities for DP and FOI officers

Thanks to Susan from Blackburn for providing this study, may be of interest to those working as FOI practioners (just covers the NW)

NW Group mini survey results.doc

Brief FOI snippet in the Times


The Times online 12th Oct

Free Seminar: UK FOIA Responding to the challenge

Date: 03 Nov 2004

To register call 0870 166 6671 or visit www.microsoft.com/uk/events and quote
event code 118748428.

Specifically for Local Government Information Professionals this seminar is an opportunity to network with peers, listen to the views and advice of leading professionals in the field of FOI and see appropriate Microsoft technologies that facilitate compliance, for example 'Requests Manager', which has been developed according to the Department for Constitutional Affiars' Generic Specification for IT Systems for Freedom of Information and Enquiries.

Agenda

The Information Commissioners' Perspective
Emma Web, FOI Policy Manager, Office of the Information Commissioner

The Countdown to January 2005:some key issues
Paul O'Sullivan, Partner, Sharpe Pritchard Solicitors and Parliamentary
Agents

The view from the outside. Who will the requesters be and what will they ask for? Lessons from the Open Government Code and FOI Aborad.
Steve Wood, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law and Business, Liverpool John Moores University.

Download full programme: FOISeminarInvitation.doc

Attendance is free and can be booked through
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/events/ or email daniel.reardon@artemiscorp.com

Warning over New Information Access Laws

The Scotsman 12th Oct

Reports from the Constitutional Affairs Committee:

"The Government’s lack of preparation for the new Freedom of Information Act couldlead to a “catastrophe”, MPs heard today......Asked if the Government had been right to bring in the Act in a “big bang” approach, CFOI director Maurice Frankel told the all-party Constitutional Affairs Select Committee: “No, that’s bad and verging on potential catastrophe.

“Every single authority in every single sector is confronting the same problems simultaneously.”

The result could be that complaints about failure to reveal requested information could arrive at the office of the Act’s watchdog – the Information Commissioner –“by the pantechnicon” a few weeks later, added Mr Frankel."

Constitutional Affairs Committee invetstigation starts

Constitutional affairs committee inquiry into implementation of the freedom of information act started on Tuesday 12th Oct.

Schedule

Tuesday 12 October, Grimond Room, Portcullis House
9.30 am
Maurice Frankel, Director, Campaign for Freedom of Information
10.00 am
Christine Miles, Chief Executive, The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Birmingham, Stephen Morris, Programmes and Performance Directorate, Department of Health and Dr John Grenville, General Practitioners Committee, British Medical Association
10.30 am
Deputy Chief Constable Ian Readhead, Hampshire Constabulary and The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and Chief Inspector Paul Brooks, FOI Project Manager, Hampshire Constabulary

Full uncorrected transcript

Tuesday 19 October, Grimond Room, Portcullis House
9.30 am
Local Government Association and Improvement and Development Agency
10.15 am
Richard Thomas, Information Commissioner

Tuesday 26 October, Grimond Room, Portcullis House
9.30 am
Baroness Ashton of Upholland, Parlaimentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs

Live audio-visual webcast coverage of some committee meetings is now available on www.parliamentlive.tv

GPs need more help from PCOs to be ready for Freedom of Information Act, UK

"Feedback from Local Medical Committees (LMCs) on GPs' preparedness for the Act's implementation shows that some PCOs have been proactive in publicising the Act. However a number of GPs claim that the training provided by the PCOs has been unhelpful, or in some places non-existent, and some practices have not received any information concerning the Act from their PCO. In addition, many GPs, although having prepared their publication scheme, are still not aware of the full requirements of the Act and consider their duty ended with the production of a scheme"


Medical News Today

CILIP's FOI Executive Briefing - 3 November 2004

Wednesday 3 November at CILIP's headquarters at 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1 and its full title is Freedom of Information – the role of the library & information professional. Among the speakers will be Anne Jones, Assistant Information Commissioner, who will provide up-to-the-minute report on what will happen in January 2005, and David Smith from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister who will tackle Freedom versus protection – what can library/information professionals do? Practitioners from government, records management and others will also speak on the impact of FOI Act.

Fees for CILIP personal members are £180 plus VAT and for institutional members £220 plus VAT, while the non-member's fee is £250 plus VAT. Further information is available by telephone on 0207 255 0560 or via e-mail at training@cilip.org.uk Full details of the FOI Executive Briefing are available on the CILIP website at http://www.cilip.org.uk/training/training/foi.htm.

ODPM funding?

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minster may be considering extra funding and is currently consulting across local gov.

It is my understanding that via the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors there has been a questionnaire about about FOIA costs circulating, indicating there may be (to quote) "additional funding to assist us in meeting costs"

A report to the ODPM was requested by last Friday the 8th

As always I'll keep you posted when I hear more

Hopefully some news on the fees issue this week as well

Hidden meta data

Some interesting (and lengthy!) debate on JISCmaillast week about hidden meta data on documents created in appliactions such as MS word - could it be accidently released and should it be unless an exemption can be found?

Some relevant links

http://www.itsecurity.com/papers/workshare1.htm

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010776461033.aspx

Slides from ASLIB event last week

Steve Wood: introduction

Tim Turner: FOI exemptions

Mohamed Hans: FOI and procurement

Heather Brooke: FOI and the media to follow

ACT NOW Training

Act Now Training has the following resources on its website:

- a flowchart on how to deal with an FOI Request
- an article on FOI and social work
- an article on FOI and procurement (Scottish version to be added soon)

It also has a free newsletter you can subscribe to. The latest issue is now available and contains lots of stories and links as well as a summary of the recent ACT Now FOI conferences held in London and Edinburgh. Keynote speakers included representatives of the Irish Information Commissioner's Office as well as their England and Scotland counterparts, the Campaign for Freedom of Information, journalists and expert lawyers.

see.www.actnow.org.uk

Act Now is running courses on basic FOI which have been revised to cover environmental Information, contracts and tendering and the link with DPA.

There are also two courses running on advanced FOI for decision Makers in Manchester and London.

Full details at www.actnowtraining.co.uk

Useful resource from Scottish IC

Comparative table for FOIA (2000) and FOISA (2002)

http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/comparativetable.htm

Evidence from Constitutional Affairs Committee now on Parliament website

UNCORRECTED TRANSCRIPT OF ORAL EVIDENCE To be published as HC 1060-i

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE constitutional affairs committee

implementation of the freedom of information act

Tuesday 14 September 2004

SARAH TYACKE CB, MRS W JONES and SUSAN HEALY

Full transcript

Excerpt:

Q21 Mr Soley: Finally, I know you do not have a formal responsibility to report on how ready other agencies are for the Freedom of Information Act but you are in a position to make some sort of assessment of local authorities over other agencies. I was just wondering if you could give the Committee some idea of your assessment of where other organisations are up to in terms of being ready for the Freedom of Information Act?

Mrs Tyacke: Yes. We are coming at it from a very long-term perspective; records management and archives go on forever, well I like to think so. In the particular issue that you are enquiring into and our impression - and it is only an impression - is that in the wider public sector things are coming along, but are patchy. I noticed only last night in the Evening Standard that people are evidently on the move because there is an advertisement in a London local authority for an information and records manager. I think an earlier survey indicated that some authorities did not have such a person and it looks as if they are now moving to do that. Some authorities were having problems getting a policy together and it looks as if that is now moving. This particular post is not only about information and records management, but also is to take on data protection and those other elements which are affected. I suppose it would be true to say that we think the wider public sector is patchy but coming along. In central Government, as I say, there has been a long tradition of records management. Obviously, it would depend very much on the particular question that is put to central departments as to how they are able to manage to answer the question. There are some questions that some departments will probably have a greater impact upon them: I imagine Works and Pensions is one, there are some other departments which may well be around the policy area in records management terms, it would very much depend on the quantity of records that need to be sorted through as to whether, in the event, they are absolutely prepared for FOI. There is guidance; there are systems and it can be done.

FOI Guidance from the National Audit Office

"COUNTING DOWN: moving from need to know to right to know." A joint publication with the DCA and Information Commissioner

Download PDF

"This guidance has been produced to assist public
authorities with their preparations in the vital final
three months. It has been prepared by officials from
the National Audit Office working together with the
Department for Constitutional Affairs and the
Information Commissioner's Office."

EGB Seminar report- Freedom of Information.

Latest issue of E-Government bulletin contains a report from their FOI seminar. Contains an some interesting insight from Heather Brooke into her new book ('Your right to know' to be published in November by Pluto Books -
http://www.plutobooks.com)

http://www.headstar.com/egb

Guardian - Riding a toothless tiger

As the new Freedom of Information Act nears, Dan Tench considers some of the potential get-outs Monday October 4, 2004 The Guardian

Scotland: Public in dark over Information Act

IC Ayreshire

"Just one in three Scots are aware of new laws that will soon give them greater access to information about the workings of government and other public bodies, according to a new report.

In a national survey of 1,009 Scots, carried out months before new freedom of information (FOI) laws come into force, just 30% said they had definitely heard of the Act which gives them extra rights to disclosure from public authorities.

A further 14% said they thought they had heard of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, which was passed by MSPs in 2002."

Would be interesting to see a comparable poll for England and Wales

Freedom of Information - Compliance and Beyond Report

Message from Ark-Group:

Freedom of Information - Compliance and Beyond Report - This report outlines the challenge that lies ahead for public authorities as they prepare for the forthcoming and ongoing demands of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)2000.

This comprehensive report is for sale at a price of £345 BUT if you contact Jill Sidley on +44(0)208 785 5927 or email jsidley@ark-group.com quoting JS-FOI you will receive it at the special discount price of £195.00.

Archiving demands attention

"New corporate governance regulations are pushing data archiving to the top of the agenda for many IT managers"

Article on VNUnet website