Transcript Document

Freedom of
Information – a brief
guide
David Evans
The Information Commissioner's
Office
The ICO’s mission is to uphold
information rights
in the public interest, promoting
openness by public bodies and data
privacy for individuals.
ICO’s role
• Enforce and regulate
– Freedom of Information Act
– Data Protection Act
– Environmental Information Regulations
– Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations
• Provide information to individuals and organisations
• Adjudicate on complaints
• Promote good practice
Our performance
c 212,134 – calls to our helpline
c 2.29m – visits to our website
Data protection
• 33,234 – data protection cases received
• 32,714 – data protection cases closed
• c 334,000 – organisations notifying
Freedom of information
• 3,734 – freedom of information cases received
• 4,196 – freedom of information cases closed
FOI – what is it?
A general right of access to information
held by public authorities
Other countries
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Sweden – 1766
United States – Federal law – 1966
Australia – Federal law - 1982
New Zealand – 1982
Ireland – 1997
England, Wales and Northern Ireland - 2000
Scotland - 2002
Zimbabwe - 2002
Before FOI in the UK
• 1957 - Windscale fire – report secret for over 30 years
• 1972 – Thalidomide – injunction against publishing details
of compensation offered by the manufacturer
• 1993 – Trident – UK would not publish safety information
but equivalent material was available in the USA
• Use of US FOI
- Cruise liner hygiene
- Meat inspections
- Pollution
- Pesticides
- MPs’ rights
Since FOI
• Information released routinely
• Commercial deals exposed
• Legal advice revealed
• Academic impact
• MPs
- results
- consequences
Important bits
• Section
• Section
• Section
• Section
• Section
• Section
• Section
8
10
12
14
16
17
19
Section 8
A request has to be;
-in writing
-states the name of the applicant
-provides an address for
correspondence
Section 10
• Time to reply
- 20 working days
• Stopping the clock
Section 12
• Costs
• £450 total
• £25 per hour
• Cannot pass the cost onto the requestor
Section 14
• Focus is “vexatious requests” and not
vexatious requestors
• Five things to consider
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Can the request fairly be seen as obsessive?
Is the request harassing the authority or causing
distress to staff?
Would complying with the request impose a significant
burden in terms of expense and distraction?
Is the request designed to cause disruption or
annoyance?
Does the request lack any serious purpose or value?
Section 17
Refusal notice
• Issued as soon as possible (and within 20 days)
• It must be clear and specific and explain why the
information is being withheld.
• Complaints procedure (if you have one) and the right of
appeal to the ICO
• Required when neither confirming nor denying whether
information is held or exemption applies.
• Not required if you don’t hold the information – just tell
them within 20 days
• If you don’t - poor practice
• EIRs – some differences compared to FOI
Section 16
• Duty to provide advice and assistance
• Comply with the Section 45 Code of Practice (MoJ)
• Practical steps
– Make early contact with an applicant and maintain a
dialogue with them throughout the process of dealing
with the request keeping them informed at every stage.
– Record and document all communications relating to
any clarification and the handling of any request.
– Make sure you use an appropriate method of contact.
Section 19 - Publication schemes
• Why?
• What do you have to do?
• The Information Commissioner’s
Model Publication Scheme
• What we’ve already done
The exemptions
• Over 20 in total
• Tightly drawn up so that their use is limited
• Cover
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Security service info
Police and courts info
Govt policy making
Health and safety
Legal info
Info in confidence
Personal information and many others
The public interest test
• The “public interest” is that which serves the interests of the
public.
• The public interest test applies to relevant sections of both the
FOIA and the EIR.
• Many FOIA exemptions and all EIR exceptions are “qualified”,
meaning that they are subject to a public interest test.
• Even if a qualified exemption or exception covers the requested
information, the information must still be disclosed unless the
public interest in maintaining the exemption is greater than the
public interest in disclosing it.
• The decision involves the balancing of factors on each side.
• Under the FOIA, an authority must apply the public interest
separately to each exemption.
Environmental Information Regulations
• the state of the elements of the environment, such as air, water,
soil, land;
• emissions and discharges, noise, energy, radiation, waste and
other such substances;
• measures and activities such as policies, plans, and agreements
affecting or likely to affect the state of the elements of the
environment;
• reports, cost-benefit and economic analyses used in these policies,
plans and agreements;
• the state of human health and safety, contamination of the food
chain and cultural sites and built structures (to the extent they
may be affected by the state of the elements of the environment).
EIRs – key differences from FOI
• EU Directive – 2003/4/EC
• Verbal as well as written requests for information
• Exception for information not held
• Right to inspect
• Exceptions for unfinished documents and internal
communications
[email protected]
01625 545772
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