"The essence of democratic government…lies in the ability of the electorate to make choices about who
should govern, or about which policies and practices they support and reject. Such choices cannot be
made unless sufficient information is available… Ultimately, information about political and government activity belongs to the people…"

(Select Committee on Public AdministrationThird Report - 1998-99)

This guide was produced and published by the Dorset Freedom of Information Act Working Party. ‘Working in Partnership’ for Bournemouth Borough Council, Christchurch Borough Council, Dorset County Council, East Dorset District Council, North Dorset District Council, The Borough of Poole, Purbeck District Council, West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

In a nutshell…

An Act of Parliament that gives individuals and organisations (private and public) worldwide a right of access to any recorded information that the Council holds, in any format (electronic, paper, video, tape, email, microfiche, etc.) The Act is fully retrospective; in other words all recorded information, wherever it is or how old it is, will potentially become available on request.

It takes effect on the 1st January 2005.

Why?

It’s all part of the ‘open government’ initiative. The spirit of the Act is to encourage and promote transparency and accountability, by giving the public greater access to information about the workings of the Council. It works on the basis that if you have a better informed public then you have a more effective and representative democracy.

So? Don’t we take this approach already?

Perhaps, but probably not consistently. At the moment we often have a choice about whether or not we respond to requests for information, so sometimes we might and sometimes we might not. We can also decide when we will respond and what information we will make available.

The FOIA regulates the whole process of requests for information that are made to public authorities. From the 1st January 2005 the Council is under an obligation by law to respond to requests for information and the Act (and a couple of Codes of Practice) set the rules for how we have to manage such requests. We no longer have a choice about whether or not we will respond, or what information we will release - it is all legislated for under the Act.

Is this a new idea?

No.

Sweden got there first in 1766! Although given the level of literacy of the average serf back then and the fact that parchment scrolls would have been tricky to negotiate, it is unlikely that the public were queuing up on the steps of their Town Hall equivalent!

Some of the countries that already have Freedom of Information legislation (apart from Sweden):

USA (1966) New Zealand (1982)

Australia (1982) Canada (1983)

Finland (1970) Norway (1970)

Denmark (1970) France (1978)

Greece (1986) Italy (1990)

Netherlands (1991) Belgium (1991)

Spain (1992) Portugal (1993)

So as you can see - it really isn’t new, just new to the UK.

Is this the only Act under which people can get access to information?

No.

There is already legislation that permits access to some types of information held by the Council. You will have heard of the Data Protection Act 1998. This Act will still apply when people want to see the personal information that the Council holds about them. The Council has a procedure for this type of request, which is called ‘subject access’. You can find out more on the Council’s Intranet under the Data Protection site, or ask your Team Information Manager.

There are also the Environmental Information Regulations 1992 (Amended 1998). These have been around for a while, although the public may not have used them very much. This will probably change once the FOIA takes effect, because the FOIA is likely to get a lot of publicity and will generally raise awareness about accessing information held by public authorities. Requests for environmental information can be made verbally as well as in writing.

There are a few other bits of legislation, mainly Local Government Acts, which grant a right of access to things like minutes of key meetings that the Council holds.

Effectively all recorded information in any format held by the Council will be available under legislation of some kind effective from 1st January 2005. The FOIA will have the widest application of all.

Is absolutely everything available under the FOIA - no questions asked?

No.

The FOIA has 23 exemptions! However, only 7 of these are clear-cut (or ‘absolute’ as they are referred to in the Act) reasons for withholding some or all of the information that has been requested. With the rest of the exemptions the Council will have to apply a ‘public interest’ test. This just means that if it is in the greater public interest to disclose information than it is to withhold it then it has to be disclosed.

The balance definitely lies in favour of disclosure!

What are the most useful, clear-cut exemptions that I need to know about?

The first one is if information is ‘readily accessible to an applicant by other means’ (as long it is not just information that is available for inspection on request - this does not count as ‘readily accessible’) then it is exempt from the access requirements of the Act. This just means the information that has to be made public by law, either by the Council or by other public authorities - so it is effectively already in the public domain. If an applicant writes asking for this type of information they should just be pointed in the right direction to find it. This does not count as a request for information under the FOIA.

The second one is if information has already been published, or there are plans to publish it in the near future. The Council had to publish a ‘FOIA Publication Scheme’ under the Act by 31st March 2003. The Council has a scheme and it is on the website. There is also a lot of other information on our website and all of this material counts as published information, along with any of our paper-based publications. Again, if an applicant writes asking for this type of information they should just be pointed in the right direction to find it. This does not count as a request for information under the FOIA.

Remember though that not everyone has access to or knows how to use computers and, whilst we may make reference to information on our website the information itself, whilst published, is not always on the website - so you may still have to do some work to help an applicant to get the information that they want, but you probably already do this anyway!

How is the Council going to deal with requests for information under the Act?

We can’t have a centralised system, partly because there are no central resources available to manage the process but also because it may delay responses to the public and make the whole system too bureaucratic.

So - we have opted for requests where necessary being directed to nominated officers in each area of service delivery - they are called Team Information Managers (TIMs), The FOI Officer may also receive requests, either directly from the public, or from TIMs where requests cover information held by more than one Directorate/Business Unit.

The FOI Officer & Legal Services will provide advice and guidance where exemptions and/or the public interest test may be applicable.

So what do I need to know about FOIA requests for information?

· They have to be made in writing (verbal requests do not fall within the remit of the Act)

· Email, fax and web communications are acceptable, as well as formal letters

· No reference needs to be made to the Act in the request

· No reason has to be given for the request

· In most cases the Council has 20 working days to respond, although this can be longer if

i.  we need to charge a fee or

ii.  if we have to consult third parties or

iii. if we are considering whether the public interest test applies to some or all of the information

· We can make a charge to provide the information if this is reasonable and practicable

· All requests for information have to be recorded, tracked and monitored

And what do I do if I receive a request for information?

Any officer of the Council could receive a request for information and, if you have regularly or routinely supplied the information being asked for before, please carry on as usual! We don’t want to hold things up for our customers. The only things you need to remember if you are going to respond and send a copy (or summary) of recorded information held by the Council to the applicant are:-

· Your response must be made within the 20 days deadline

· Your TIM needs to record the request, so you need to forward details to them about the name of the applicant, date of request, type of information requested & provided, date responded to, etc. You can do this by email.

If you do not:

· have access to the Council’s record systems, or

· do not normally deal with requests from the public for information, or

· you are not sure whether all or some of the information should be released to the applicant, or

· the request is not straightforward and appears to cover lots of different areas of service delivery, or

· any combination of the above,

PASS IT TO YOUR TIM! AND DO THIS PROMPTLY!

Where can I find out more about the Act and the Council’s policies & procedures?

You can find more information on the Council Intranet (path). There are also the Council’s official Access to Information Policy & Access to Information Procedures, which you should look at. There are a number of other staff & public guides that you will find helpful. You can also talk to your TIM.

And if you are really interested in what the Act can do for you take a look at the Information Commissioner’s website - www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk