Freedom of Information

2. Freedom of Information

8. What is it? • How to use it • Tips and strategies: • Making better requests • Overcoming obstructive authorities

9. FOI – your statutory rights • To be told if a public body holds the information requested • If so, to be supplied with the information requested

10. General principles • A general presumption in favour of openness – need to know replaced by right to know • An obligation to assist • Information not documents • More routine publication of information • Retrospective

11. Purposes of the Act • To ensure greater transparency of public bodies • To ensure greater accountability • To increase public participation in government • To improve decision making • To improve trust in government • To improve people’s understanding of government

12. Who is covered? • 100,000 public bodies: • Central and local government • The health sector • The police and armed forces • The education sector (not private)

13. Specifically…i • All local councils, including parish and town councils • The NHS - hospital and health trusts, GPs, dentists, pharmacists • All government departments (DfE; MoD; Defra, etc) • Schools, colleges and universities

14. Specifically…ii • Fire and police forces/authorities • Quangos (eg, examination boards) • Government advisory committees • Regulators (Ofsted; Ofcom; Ofqual) • BBC, Channel Four (excluding for journalistic activities)

15. Plus… • 400 “named” bodies in the Act, such as: • British Potato Council • The Apple and Pear Research Council • The Committee on Safety of Medicines • Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for Purchase of Wine • The Political Honours Scrutiny Committee • The Football Licensing Authority

16. Not covered - Exempt bodies • The Security and Intelligence Services (MI5/MI6) • Special forces (SAS/SBS) Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) • The Royal Family • And…no duty to confirm or deny if information exists

21. Exempt ‘classes’ of information • Absolute exemptions: where the authority can refuse information Includes: • Information available elsewhere (Section 21) • Information relating to investigations/proceedings being conducted by public bodies • Court records (such as material filed for proceedings)

22. Absolute exemptions ii • Personal Information (Section 40)* • Information supplied to the public authority by or relating to bodies dealing with security matters (Section 23) • Information provided in confidence by another party (Section 41)** *With caveats on public interest ** But not contracts

23. FOI – qualified exemptions • FOIA has 23 qualified exemptions, meaning information must be subject to publicinteresttest. These include: • Information prejudicial to effective conduct of public affairs (Section 36) – the so-called “catch-all” exemption • Information that relates to formulation of government policy (Section 35) • Legal professional privilege • Information prejudicial to UK’s international relations (Section 27) • Information held for law enforcement functions (Section 31)

24. So…what’s in the “public interest?” The Act states: “Information must be released if it is judged that the public interest in disclosing it is greater than the public interest in not releasing it.”

25. Public interest factors – ICO guidance Does the information… • Further understanding and participation in public debate of issues of the day? • Promote accountability and transparency in public bodies? • Promote accountability in how public money is being spent? • Allow us to understand how decisions may affect our lives? • Allow individuals to challenge decisions? • Bring to light information affecting public health and safety?

26. Irrelevant PI considerations • Who is making the request • Possibility that the information could be misunderstood or considered too technical • The accuracy of the information • The number of exemptions being claimed

27. Public interest • Where PI arguments are evenly balanced between withholding or disclosing information, authority should always opt for disclosure (reality v.different!) • Where info deemed prejudicial to effective conduct of public affairs, evidence must be “clear, specific, credible” • Not enough to say release would be likely to prejudice – must show it would

29. How to make requests • Must be in writing (letter, fax,e-mail) • Contain enough information for authority to reply • Must give name and address • Requests are motiveblind – no need to say why you want information – but context can help • Can ask for preferred format (eg hard copy, email, spreadsheet etc)

31. Making requests… • Ask for an acknowledgement from the authority • Note date when you should be getting response (20 working days) • Ask authority to contact you if there is any misunderstanding about request • Tell authority you want a schedule of dcouments held

32. Requests ii Authorities… • Must respond “promptly” • have up to 20 working days to reply • Have a duty to provide advice and assistance (eg transfer of request to another body; reframing of requests) – Section 16 • If refused, must give grounds (inc. PI arguments) • If refused, say how to appeal

33. Fees – does it cost? • Requests are mostly “free” but… • Can be refused above a cost limit: • £600 for Government departments (= 3.5 days) • £450 for other bodies, councils (= 2.5 days) • Below these limits, no charge except copying and postage (discretionary)

34. What if request refused? • All bodies must have internal complaints/appeals process • If still unsuccessful, right of appeal to the Information Commissioner (www.ico.gov.uk) • Further right of appeal to independent tribunal where IC rejects your appeal – also available to public body • Appeals to tribunals must be made within 28 days of Commission ruling

35. Original request or internal appeal unanswered? • Section 50 of the Act allows complaints direct to ICO where requests or appeals unanswered • ICO has powers to direct authority to respond within certain time limits • Has further enforcement powers

36. The Information Commissioner (IC) • Independent “watchdog” on FOI • Rules on complaints and appeals • Enforces FOI and Data Protection • Promotes compliance with the law

37. Powers of the Information Commissioner • Require an authority to give the information via “decision notice” • Issue enforcementnotices compelling release of information by certain date • Where notices are ignored, to take action in High Court

38. FOI – making it work for you • What makes a good request? • Pre-empting refusals • Some general tips and strategies

39. Good or bad request? • Give me all the information the council holds on road safety

40. Better request… • How many accidents have there been on A999 between 2013-14? • How many were fatal? • How many were seriously injured? • What plans does council have to improve safety?

41. Good or bad request? • What contingency plans does DCMS have in the event of England winning World Cup 2006?

42. Being specific…iii • Request: “The cost of work-related trips taken by north Kent officers in last 12 months; who went; destination; purpose; cost.”

43. Good request? Over the last 5 years please supply the number of teachers within Kent that have been subject to capability measures, found to be incompetent and of those found incompetent how many remained to teach in the school? To: Kent county council

44. Response by KCC: • Invoked Section 12 to refuse request – take too long and exceed 20 day working limit

45. Better request: • Narrow time frame – fewer years • Make request for secondary schools only • Make request for primary schools only • Approach individual schools

46. Dear Sir or Madam (Kent County Council) If someone was to tell their local officer aboutsomeone who has over 20 cannabis plants, would they get a rewardand if so how much?Yours faithfully,Jim

47. Dear Jim Thank you for your request for information. Kent County Council has no law enforcement responsibilities with regard to the possession of drugs and does not hold any information aboutrewards for reporting criminal activity. I suggest that you redirect your request to Kent Police. Yours sincerely…

48. A good request? • How many sex offender orders has Thames Valley Police…applied for relating to people from the Banbury Guardian area since April 2003?”

49. A good request? • How many extra-marital affairs were conducted by the Deputy Prime Minister between entering office on May 2 1997 and July 12 2006?”

50. What makes a good request? • Don’t make it too wide • Make it as easy to answer as possible • Start with simple factual request and build up • Don’t combine requests with a complaint or advocacy