From my admitted and very restricted knowledge there exists a general legal
requirement (possibly at common law level) for a person facing some form of
detrimental action against them to have full access to all material
supporting the cause of that action. I believe this is reflected in the
rules of evidential disclosure and similar legal rules, which are aimed at
facilitating an open fair and just legal/social system. Problematically
many organisations and individuals resist disclosure of material which would
not be favourable for them, ethical issues are then raised indicating the
existence of this rule at the moral level. At that moral level the matters
can become more complex where different types of cultural base are involved.
i.e. transborder, public/private sector, inter-departmental/organisational.
Should a person suffering some form of disadvantage doubt the fullness of
disclosures made to them, (a not unusual occurrence in the case of persons
who feel oppressed by some matter) take recourse to another method of access
as a means of validating that proper disclosures were made, or possibly find
other material which may have accidentally been missed in previous
disclosures, it seems a logical and supportive (of the legal and apparent
moral rule ineptly described above,) action to take. Provided whichever
methods of access used are available and legitimate.
My questions are:-
1. Who should determine which legal mechanism is most appropriate to use in
accessing the particular information being requested?
2. Should collaboration occur between different disclosure mechanisms, or
should they operate independently?
The questions have been prompted by the apparently recurring difficulty of
identifying which disclosure mechanism is most appropriate to use in
responding to access requests, a difficulty which in all probability will
become more complex as familiarity with FOI grows.
Ian W
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