Well, of course many council departments etc supply information as a matter
of course, as you say.
So as FoI Officer for a PCT for 6 months the 20 requests that I had were
mostly were complicated ones regarding commissioning policy etc.
I knew that our Communications Dept were supplying info daily in response to
requests from the local papers etc.
Therefore the only requests that are seen as "FoI requests" are the ones
that either take a lot of time, or the organisation would rather not answer
but it is pointed out that under FoI they have to respond to.
An FoI request treated as a FoI request generates a lot of admin etc. There
must be a proper acknowledgement, there are proper procedures etc - for
instance, I had to ensure that the request was met in 20 days.
I worked out that an FoI request sent by a requesterto 400 English PCT's
taking the maximum 17 hours and assuming the £350 cost per request would
cost approx £140,000. And my own feeling is that most requests once the
request is started noone says, like a taxi driver might, that you have had
your 17 hours and that is it - like an old-fashion mainframe computer which
if you had exceeded the time within a particular time priority and the
computer just stops the job with no output worth looking at.
Nick Landau
----- Original Message -----
From: "HOWLETT Sue L" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Nick Landau" <[log in to unmask]>;
<[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:44 PM
Subject: RE: [data-protection] "Please may I speak to your Privacy Officer?"
...Of course if a librarian does supply that information it may be
considered business as usual and therefore not considered an FOI
request...
Regards.
Sue
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nick Landau
Sent: 16 February 2006 11:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] "Please may I speak to your Privacy
Officer?"
It is a good idea for requesters to make clear that there request is an
FoI
request, but under the legislation, of certainly the way I understand
it,
any request for information to a public organisation must be treated as
an
FoI request.
I can hand a request for information at my local library without
mentioning
FoI and that is an "FoI request".
Now, of course, if the librarian says I can provide that information
here
and now, it is highly unlikely that the request is going to be logged as
a
an "FoI request".
This is why all staff at an organisation must be made aware of FoI, and
that
is why there must be procedures in place for processing requests that
are
received anywhere in the organisation.
Indeed the requester doesn't have to heard of FoI, but I believe that if
subsequently to a request for information they discovered that there was
an
FoI Act and that the request should have been dealt with differently
that
person might also want to complain.
FoI is not just for readers of The Independent and The Guardian.
Nick Landau
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ibrahim Hasan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: [data-protection] "Please may I speak to your Privacy
Officer?"
> This seems a good idea. It may lead to requests being dealt with
> properly by the appropriate person. Although technically there is no
> requirement under the legislation (FOI and DP) to label a request as
> such.
>
> Incidentally, my brother manages a call centre for a large utility
> company. He says that staff there are given no worthwhile training on
> DP. Even the legal department only has superficial knowledge!
>
> I usually end up answering his queries.
>
> Ibrahim Hasan
> Act Now Training
> www.actnow.org.uk
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ekin Caglar
> Sent: 16 February 2006 09:59
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [data-protection] "Please may I speak to your Privacy
> Officer?"
>
> After the BT hassle, we thought about starting a campaign to help all
of
> us
> with information requests: Any request for information under DPA or
FOIA
> could have some sort of an identifier, e.g. the message "FOI Request"
on
> the
> envelope/email subject/etc, and the staff trained to send anything
with
> that
> message straight to the Information Governance Manager or somebody in
an
> equivalent position.
>
> No call centre I have ever been in touch with knew anything about DPA,
> and
> it is even worse for FOI (as requests can come in to ANY member of
> staff).
>
> Ekin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tim Trent
> Sent: 15 February 2006 16:56
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [data-protection] "Please may I speak to your Privacy
Officer?"
>
> Over the past couple of days I and a co-researcher have been sampling
> FTSE100 corporations and the ability of their switchboards to handle a
> very
> simple enquiry from a member of the public.
>
> We asked: "Please may I speak to your Privacy Officer - the person who
> looks
> after Data Protection?" At that point, though we were friendly, we
> watched
> as we were put through to strange places in the organisations. One
> organisation put us through to Profit Protection (the anti shoplifting
> squad!).
>
> While we will be featuring the report in a newsletter shortly I wanted
> to
> share it with all of you first. I have placed it on our website at a
> parlously long link, so I am using "tiny" to shorten it for ease of
> downloading <http://tinyurl.com/a9c3d> http://tinyurl.com/a9c3d It's
> about
> a 200KB pdf file
>
> As is our usual practice the report is free of charge in the
membership
> area
> of our site. You will be asked to enter your email address, and to
> register
> if you are not already a member. As you would expect you are also
free
> to
> unsubscribe at any time.
>
> I hope you find it useful. If you pass it on, please pass the link
> rather
> than the document. But that is up to you entirely.
>
>
>
> Tim Trent - Consultant
> Direct: +44(0)1344 392644 Mobile:+44(0)7710 126618
> email: [log in to unmask]
> <blocked::mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Marketing Improvement Limited, Abbey House, Grenville Place,
Bracknell,
> United Kingdom, RG12 1BP
<blocked::http://www.marketingimprovement.com/>
>
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>
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