FOI podcast, articles and workshops

Ibrahim Hasan has asked me to post the following:

FOI podcast
Ibrahim Hasan has just published episode 15 of the FOI Podcast. In September and October 2008 the Information Commissioner published thirty three decisions whilst the Information Tribunal published eleven.

In this episode, amongst others, he will be discussing decisions on:

* Information held on behalf of coroners
* Section 21 and information held by a court
* Disclosure of information about statutory inquiries
* OFSTED inspectors’ notes
* A request for information about Government Information Sharing initiatives
* Disclosure of Employment Tribunal details
* Drug testing methodologies
* AND when information about residential care homes can be disclosed under section 43

To listen please go to: http://www.informationlaw.org.uk/page10.htm

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FOI Update workshops

Ibrahim will be discussing these and other latest FOI decisions during his forthcoming FOI workshop in Manchester and London.

FOI Update: Exemptions and the Public Interest Test:

For details: http://www.actnow.org.uk/courses/Freedom_of_Information
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Latest FOI Articles

FOI Update of ICO and IT decisions
FOI, Outsourcing and Shares Services

See: http://www.informationlaw.org.uk/page13.htm

Procurement information

The Ministry of Justice has published updated guidance for public authorities on how to treat requests for information on different phases of the procurement process.

Freedom of information guidance - procurement working assumptions

Announcement regarding extension of coverage of FOI(S)A

The Scottish Government has today (17 November 2008) published a discussion paper on the possible extension of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act. The paper seeks views on whether the Scottish Government should use the powers under section 5 of the FOISA to extend coverage of the Act to:

• Contractors who provide services that are a function of a public authority
• Registered social landlords
• Local authority trusts or bodies set up by local authorities
  

Responses are invited by 12 January 2009.

The Minister for Parliamentary Business, Bruce Crawford explained:

"The organisations we are looking at in terms of coverage have not been chosen at random. They are bodies about whom concerns over a lack of coverage have consistently been raised with us. The concerns may have arisen because of changes in the way public services are delivered - for example the contracting out of services traditionally provided directly by a public authority.

"Discussions will take place before any decision is taken to formally consult. But formal consultation is not a rubber-stamping exercise. Any extension of coverage needs to be measured and appropriate."

Mr Crawford also announced that the Government would be pro-actively publishing Ministerial car travel and diary information. In addition, the Minister announced the publication of the latest Scottish Government Annual Report on request handling.

See
Discussion Paper - Coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
Freedom of Information Annual Report January-December 2007
News release 17/11/08

The exemption for personal information - updated ICO guidance

The Information Commissioner's Office has published updated guidance on the exemption for personal information in section 40 of the FOI Act.

Personal data of any other person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. Generally this will mean considering whether it is unfair to release the information and balancing the necessary public interest in disclosure against the interests of the individual under the first principle.
...
As disclosure under the FOIA is considered disclosure to the public at large and not to the individual applicant, you will therefore need to balance the legitimate public interest in disclosure against the interests of the individual whose data it is. Although this requires consideration of the public interest in disclosure, the test is not the same as the public interest test used for qualified exemptions and there is no assumption of disclosure.

Following the Tribunal decision in Corporate Officer of the House of Commons v Information Commissioner and Leapman, Brooke and Thomas (EA/2007/0060 etc; 26 February 2008) (upheld on appeal by the High Court1), we recommend that public authorities approach condition 6 as a three-part test:

1. there must be a legitimate public interest in disclosure;

2. the disclosure must be necessary to meet that public interest; and

3. the disclosure must not cause unwarranted harm to the interests of the individual.

The exemption for personal information - version 3 (11 November 2008)

FOI and additional capacity at Heathrow

House of Commons debates
11 Nov 2008 : Column 661

Theresa Villiers (Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Conservative)
The Government’s assumptions are hopelessly optimistic, and their credibility is further undermined by the documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening)—I shall come to that later. Greenpeace has used the Act to reveal another worrying development—the Government are going to apply for a derogation from the directive. Labour’s clear promise that it would not press ahead with expansion if it violated EU air quality rules turns out to be worthless. A third runway would mean a new flight path over one of the most densely populated areas in the country, with thousands more people living with a plane overhead every 90 seconds.

Column 662
Mrs. Villiers: The freedom of information documents indicate that when the fleet mix data provided to support the air transport White Paper was fed into the Civil Aviation Authority's noise model, they failed the noise test that the Government had set. The documents then show the DFT and BAA working together closely on a subsequent "re-forecasting" of both aircraft types and numbers—a process that went on until a few weeks before the publication of the November 2007 consultation.

See also:
UK faces Heathrow legal action - New Statesman 12 Nov 2008

SIC resources for elected members

The Scottish Information Commissioner has published a series of factsheets for MSPs and councillors, setting out how rights and obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act apply to elected members, and providing advice on best practice.

The following factsheets are available:

Factsheet A - About freedom of information in Scotland

Factsheet B - Elected Members and freedom of information

Factsheet C - Guide to making a request for information

Factsheet D - The Scottish Information Commissioner

Factsheet E - Contacts and Resources

ICO rules against VOSA over details of non-safety recalls

ICO press release
12 November 2008

The details of 22 non-safety recalls recorded by the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA) in 2006 must be made public following a ruling under the Freedom of Information Act. The Information Commissioner's Office has ordered VOSA to release the information as the details of non-safety recalls will not affect the commercial interests of manufacturers.
...

In her ruling, the Assistant Information Commissioner, Anne Jones, noted that manufacturers inform vehicle owners when there has been a non-safety recall as a way of preventing the issue developing into a safety related incident. As a result, the details of non-safety recalls were made available to thousands of owners and there is no evidence to suggest that vehicle owners are under a duty of confidentiality relating to this information.

The Assistant Information Commissioner also considered whether disclosing the infomation would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of manufacturers. VOSA believed that releasing the information could undermine and damage the reputation of manufacturers and as a result could have a detrimental effect on their commercial revenue. The Assistant Information Commissioner disagreed with this argument, stating that VOSA could avoid misinterpretation of the information by providing an appropriate explanation of its context."

See
Press release
Decision notice FS50146033

CLG ordered to improve handling of FoI requests

ICO press release
7 Nov 2008

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is advising the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) that it must improve its handling of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act in order to conform to the expected standards of good practice.

A formal practice recommendation has been issued by the ICO in response to the Department's failure to respond to internal reviews in accordance with the Commissioner's published guidance. Public authorities must respond to requests for internal reviews within 20 working days, or 40 days in exceptional circumstances.

The ICO carried out an audit of complaints concerning the Department's practices and identified a significant backlog of internal reviews. Some of the reviews requested remained outstanding over 400 working days later. A number of the delays continued after the ICO had drawn the Department's attention to ICO guidance specifically relating to this matter.

See:
ICO press release
DCLG practice recommendation
FoI Good Practice Guidance No. 5 - time limits on carrying out internal reviews

Information Commissioner & Tribunal Decisions

The Campaign for Freedom of Information is running a half-day training course on 'Information Commissioner & Tribunal Decisions' in London on 5 February 2009.

The course, which is aimed at those with a good working knowledge of the legislation, highlights key developments in the way the main exemptions, the public interest test and the legislation's procedural requirements are being interpreted.

Further details will be available from the Campaign's website shortly. Please email us if you would like to be notified when these become available.