Policy on Freedom of Information Requests

Assembly Policy on Requests For Information

In dealing with requests for information, the presumption will be that, in keeping with the principles espoused in the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Publication Scheme, an open and transparent approach will be pursued in respect of making information accessible and available. It is anticipated that exemptions will be the exception rather than the rule; they will require to be identified and justified within business areas prior to approval at the appropriate level[1].

Introduction

1.     From January 1st 2005, the general right of access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 means that any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled, firstly, to be informed in writing by a public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and, secondly, if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him/her.

2.     The Assembly’s commitment to openness and transparency is demonstrated by the fact that most of the information held by the Assembly is contained in its Publication Scheme and is already made accessible to the public.  Nevertheless, it is important that clear and appropriate decision-making structures are established within the Assembly, to ensure that decisions relating to the release, or withholding, of other information are taken at the appropriate level. 

3.      The statutory requirements for dealing with requests for information are contained in the Act and regulations made under it.  Public authorities must comply with these statutory provisions at all times.  In addition, in November 2002, the Lord Chancellor issued the Code of Practice on the Discharge of the Functions of Public Authorities under Part I of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Code of Practice).  Whilst there is a statutory duty on the Lord Chancellor to issue the Code, the provisions of the Code themselves do not have statutory force. However, public authorities are expected to abide by the Code of Practice unless there are good reasons, capable of being justified to the Information Commissioner, why it would be inappropriate to do so. 

4.      From the 1^st January 2005, any request for information which meets the following three criteria is technically a request under the terms of the Act and there is no need for a request to mention the Act itself.  

• received in writing (including e-mail/fax)(or received orally and relates to environmental information)
• states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence (including e-mail address); and
• describes the information requested.

 Requests for Information (Chart 1)

5.       Given its commitment to openness and transparency, the Assembly expects that it will not be necessary or appropriate to fully engage the FOI procedures set out below for every request which meets the criteria set out in paragraph 4 above.  Straightforward requests for information that were dealt with as a matter of course before the Act came into force will continue to be dealt with as normal.  Responses, however, must be within the 20 working days from receipt of the request and business areas must be sure the request can be answered in full, if treating as routine business. If all information cannot be provided the request must be logged on the database and treated as FOI.   Examples of straightforward or routine requests include asking for copies of documents published by the Assembly, asking for contact details, asking for opening hours or timing of Assembly sittings.   

Initial Assessment (Chart 2)

 6.        All requests for information which would not be released as part of normal Assembly business should be passed by a DFO to the FoI Information Standards Officer (ISO).  The provision of any information in response to a written request should, however, be signed off by a Designated FoI Officer (DFO).  Each business area will, therefore, be required to identify all such designated staff and they will require appropriate training.    To  enable the Assembly to demonstrate that routine requests have been handled according to the terms of the Act,  each business area will be required to log all written requests (or oral requests relating to environmental information) for information on an electronic tracking system and record the date and content of all responses. 

When passing on information requests, the DFO should indicate if possible whether or not an exemption is likely to be considered. Upon receipt of a request, the FoI ISO will open an FoI request file and update the electronic tracking system.

7.       Under the Act, public authorities have a duty to provide advice and assistance to people who wish to make, or have made, requests for information.   In addition, the Act states that public authorities that conform to the Code of Practice are deemed to have complied with the duty to provide advice and assistance.   The Code of Practice highlights the duty to provide assistance where the request is unclear or where the information is known to be held by another public authority.  

8.      In line with the Code of Practice, where the request has not been received in the format set out in paragraph 3 above or if the request is unclear or is very broad, the FoI ISO will contact the applicant to provide assistance and to seek clarification or a narrowing of the request.

9.      The Assembly may receive requests for information which it does not hold but which it knows to be held by another public authority.  Such requests should be dealt with by the FoI unit and, where it is clear at the outset which public authority holds the information requested, the FoI ISO will consider the most helpful way of assisting the applicant with his or her request. The Code of Practice indicates that in most cases this is likely to involve:

• contacting the applicant and informing him or her that the information requested may be held by another public authority;
• suggesting that the applicant re-applies to the authority which the original authority knows to hold the information;
• providing him or her with contact details for that authority.

10.    The FoI ISO will make an initial assessment of requests in an attempt to identify whether or not the information requested might be accessible to the applicant by other means (e.g. already published and included in the Assembly’s Publication Scheme).  If appropriate, the FoI ISO will inform the applicant where the information is available.  If the information is inaccessible to the applicant in a particular format then the FoI ISO will consider providing the information by alternative means.  The FoI ISO should maintain a record of all communication with the applicant and update the tracking system as appropriate.

11.    Once the nature of a request for information is clear, the FoI ISO will make an assessment as to whether the request should be dealt with under the provisions of the Data Protection Act, the Environmental Information Regulations, or the FoI Act.  Given the parallels between the Act and the EIR regime, a similar handling process and the same tracking system will be used to deal with such requests.  Requests which are considered to fall within the scope of the Data Protection Act will be dealt with under a different process.

Evaluation and Decision Making (Chart 3)

12.     For each request which has not been dealt with under the preceding paragraphs, the FoI ISO will formally pass the request to the DFO in the relevant business area.  Where a request covers a number of business areas, one DFO will be nominated by the FoI ISO to co-ordinate the retrieval and assessment of information.  DFOs, assisted by the relevant LIM, should immediately arrange for the search and retrieval of the relevant records (this search should cover all information storage (paper files, PC and Network drives).   At the same time the DFO should, where possible, undertake a preliminary assessment of the potential for an exemption to apply.  Part of this assessment will involve checking the FoI requests database.

13.    Within 2 working days of receiving a request from the FoI ISO, the DFO should provide the FoI ISO with an estimate of the time needed to retrieve all relevant records.  The FoI ISO will then calculate the appropriate cost and any charges which might be made for the information. Where a fee is to be charged or provision of the information is exempt on the basis of cost, the FoI ISO will advise the applicant and the relevant business area/s immediately.  Once any fee has been received the request will proceed as set out below.   The time from issue of a fees notice until receipt of payment is not counted in relation to the 20 day deadline.   If a fee has not been paid within 3 months, a request file may be closed.

14.     Once all relevant records have been located and retrieved, these should be detailed on a ‘Schedule of Information Items’.  The Schedule of Information Items should contain an index and a brief description of the information covered by the request.  The DFO should carry out a detailed review of all information covered by the request and listed on the schedule to make an assessment as to whether it contains any material that is potentially exempt from disclosure.  The 20 working day time limit can be extended to a ‘reasonable’ time, where the Assembly is required to apply the public interest test, because one of the ‘qualified’ exemptions applies (see paragraph 15 below).  In such circumstances the FoI ISO must inform the applicant before the deadline that the Assembly needs more time to consider the public interest in disclosure and must also give an estimate of the date by which the Assembly expects to make its decision.

15.     The DFO should, not later than 10 working days from being formally passed a request by the FoI ISO, prepare a case setting out reasoned arguments and recommendations for and/or against release of information.  Where appropriate, this case must consider the public interest in disclosure.  In addition to the general advice provided by the FoI Unit to assist DFOs prepare a case, subject specific advice will also be available from subject specialists (e.g. personnel, finance, procurement) within the Assembly.

16.     This case and all relevant information should then be passed to the FoI ISO for evaluation.  Where consideration of the application of the public interest test means that a response is unlikely to be provided within the 20 working day limit, the FoI ISO will, within that limit,  inform the applicant of which exemption/s is or are being considered and provide an estimate of when a substantive reply will be sent.

17.     Where the FoI ISO agrees with the case presented by the DFO, the FoI Unit will arrange for the release of information or issue of a refusal notice as appropriate.  Where there is a failure to reach agreement between the DFO and the FoI ISO, the FoI ISO will consult with the relevant Director.  If required a final decision on the provision or withholding of information will be taken by an FoI Approval Panel consisting of three directors.

18.    Any exemption of information on the basis of prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs (section 36) must be based upon the opinion of the Speaker.  Where this exemption is being considered, it will be necessary to use the normal procedure to seek the Speaker’s opinion.  One full week should be allowed for this process.

19.    The FoI ISO is responsible for the provision of information to the applicant and/or for issuing the applicant with a refusal notice.  Where information is being withheld the refusal notice will identify any exemptions which have been applied and explain why it is in the public interest to withhold the information that is not being released.   

20.    All but one of the exemptions (section 21) contained in the Act include both an exemption from the duty to communicate the information requested and an exemption from the duty to confirm of deny whether the information is held.  If an exemption from the duty to confirm or deny whether the information is held applies to a request, then the duty to communicate the information does not arise.

21.    In some cases it will be not be appropriate to release a copy of a document in its entirety.  For example, an applicant may request all the information in a particular document but some of the information may be exempt.  In such circumstances, the exempt information will need to be blocked out or removed from the copy (this is known as ‘redaction’).  Any response will make it clear that redactions have taken place, and the relevant exemption/s will be cited.

Complaints and Review (Chart 4) 

22.    All complaints should be dealt with in the first instance by the FoI ISO.  All staff, therefore, should forward any complaints immediately to the FoI Unit.

23.    An applicant who considers that their request has not been properly handled or is otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of the consideration of their request, and where the issue is such that it cannot be resolved informally in discussion with the FoI ISO, may employ the Assembly’s internal complaints and review procedure.

24.    Any written reply from an applicant (including one received by email) expressing dissatisfaction with the Assembly’s response to a valid request for information should be treated as a complaint and this should be registered on the tracking system.  All complaints should be acknowledged by the FoI ISO and the complainant should be given a target date for determining the complaint. Where it is apparent that determination of the complaint will take longer than the target time (for example because of the complexity of the particular case), the FoI ISO should inform the applicant and explain the reason for the delay. 

25.    Where the complaint relates to the process of handling a request, or to a decision not to provide information, this will be considered first by an internal review panel.  

26.    Any review is a fresh decision and the review panel must start from scratch in terms of the evaluation of the evidence and the application of the Act.  The review team can consider new arguments put forward by the applicant and it is also considered best practice to engage with the staff member, or members, who dealt with the original application in order to build a full picture as to how decisions were made.

27.    Considerations of complaints and internal reviews have to be completed in a reasonable timescale.  The Assembly will respond to all complaints and undertake reviews within 20 working days of receipt of a complaint.  If it becomes clear at any stage that it will not be possible to meet the deadline set, the applicant will be made aware of this by the FoI ISO and kept fully informed of progress. In these circumstances, a secondary deadline by which a response will be made will be set, and every effort must be made to ensure that this is kept to.

28.    Following an internal review, the original decision may be reversed or the original decision may be upheld.  Where the original decision is reversed the applicant must be told, and made aware of when they can expect the information originally requested to be provided to them.  Where the internal review upholds the original decision, the applicant must be made aware of their further rights of appeal to the Information Commissioners Office.  In such circumstances, full contact details for the Information Commissioners Office must be provided to the applicant.

Chart 1

Requests for Information

Yes                                                                                                     No

Chart 2       

Initial Assessment on Request for Information

                                        No                                                  Yes             Yes        No                                                                    

Chart 3                       
Evaluating and responding to FOI Requests

                                       Yes                           

                                        Yes                                          No                                                         

                                                         Yes

No

Chart 4

Dealing with Complaints

                                            No                                             Yes

Annex 1           Access to Information - Decision making Responsibilities



 Annex 1         

  Access to Information - Decision making Responsibilities

Dealing with Complaints