Tony
Another interesting question for which there are a number of answers
depending as ever, upon the context.
The FoIA definition if "information which is held" for me, would be defined
as "information which one has and maintains in one's possession" - there is
no clear legal definition of "held" though there are a number of definitions
for "possession" see below:
POSSESSION - A person has possession of something if the person knows of its
presence and has physical control of it, or has the power and intention to
control it. [More than one person can be in possession of something if each
knows of its presence and has the power and intention to control it.]
The law recognizes several kinds of possession. A person may have actual
possession or constructive possession. A person may also have sole
possession or joint possession.
A person who has direct physical control of something on or around his
person is then in actual possession of it.
A person who is not in actual possession, but who has both the power and the
intention to later take control over something either alone or together with
someone else, is in constructive possession of it.
As has been noted by other people already - information which is in the
possession of the authority may not be directly related to business
transactions - hence you may not always be able to rely on the definition of
records from ISO 15489 as there is likely to be information held which would
fall outside of that definition.
Adams Comments on voicemail messages is an interesting one - though to my
mind any storage facility be it a building, a hard drive or a telephone
which the authority pays for is the authority's property and therefore, its
physical location is irrelevant - the information would still be within the
authority's possession though the individual employee is its custodian on a
daily basis in much the same way as information held in a personal filing
cabinet in an individuals office. Remember that text messages have been
used as records of activity in UK Courts as evidence in criminal and civil
cases.
The issue around external email accounts is a wider issue and I agree that
it is a can if worms, not least in terms of security and lack of control.
Within Cheshire for instance, anyone wishing to access their email from home
or whilst abroad would apply to County IT for an extranet license, allowing
them to access their email via the county website. Cheshire has a policy
which states that emails are not to be sent to external home/hotmail
accounts - in order to comply with IT Security standards and RM standards
since records and information sent to personal accounts is out of the
authority's control.
I look forward to reading others comments on this
Paula J Smith
Records Manager
Cheshire County Council.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony May [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 29 April 2004 10:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FOI definition - what is held?
Hi all
The UK FOI act continually mentions information we hold, information held by
an organisation. However it never defines the word "held".
Has anyone obtained a definition of the word held?
I am currently using the ISO 15489 definition of a record within our records
management policy;
Records ? information created, received and maintained as evidence or
information by an organisation or person, in pursuance of legal obligations
or in the transaction of business.
To my mind this could be used as a definition of what is held by the
organisation. However as "held" has not been defined I am looking for other
opinions and thoughts.
Please reply on list as I think this is a very interesting area and could
create a good discussion.
Thanks
Tony May
Documents Manager
Hertfordshire County Council
Phone: 01992 556 729
Comnet 26729
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