The Freedom of Information Working Group was established back in 2002 with the Data Protection Working Group following in March 2005. The aim of both groups was to work together in partnership to achieve a uniformity and consistency in the approach to he Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act and other associated access and privacy legislation. It has been decided to amalgamate the two groups to form the Dorset Information Management and Compliance Working Group.

The main objectives of the group is to:

• Develop common policies, guidance, publicity and training material
• Ensure that material developed takes account of associated access and privacy legislation
• Monitor significant changes in access and privacy legislation and update each other on developments in the law
• Develop a forum by which Data Protection and Freedom of Information issues can be discussed confidentially
• Make recommendations to the Dorset Chief Executive's Group relating to the legislation when necessary and/or appropriate

A Newsletter is to be produced quarterly which is accessible across all Dorset Authorities which will contain updates on the legislation, statistics on the number of requests received across Dorset as well as sharing some of the more bizarre request.

Select the following link for the Newsletter:

Issue 1 (February 2006) (296kb) Word Document
Issue 2 (June 2006) (241kb) Word Document
Issue 3 (December 2006) (446kb) PDF

Issue 4 (Summer 2007) (1.3Mb) PDF

Issue 5 (Winter 2008) (1Mb) PDF