Yes I've come up against this. I've thankfully had some senior mgmt. support but it's always difficult. One can end up sounding really pious and aggravating, but turning the question round from "why won't you tell us", to "justify the need to know" can be helpful.
I agree with you, I don't think, as standard, the processing is justified. In some cases we have discussed the requester where it would be helpful to our legitimate interest. For example, the press team knowing about a request from a BBC reporter in order to offer the reporter support or prepare lines to take. Or where a requester is using multiple routes to access information where it can be helpful to work on all the requests through multiple avenues together to provide a coherent and consistent response. Not saying we're perfect at this (!), but saying no nicely in broken record fashion has meant mostly that people stop asking.
The 'initials only' thing is a smoke screen. If they can't identify anyone from the initials, why are they necessary instead of 1,2,3? If they think that by seeing initials they can identify serial complainers/opposition groups, then it's no different from releasing the names. And may actually lead to false identification; JS not necessarily being the John Smith everyone thinks it is.
If you have the support I suggest the best way is for your mgmt. chain to have a quiet word and explain the need to justify/consider fairness. This is one time when "blame Data Protection Act/ICO, we're all in this together, isn't it a pain but there you go", can help people to move past the requester's name. Backing that up with details of how you're planning to improve performance, publish more data to reduce requests etc etc can help move people back to the important issues.
Maybe stop producing that stat? Use only stats for requests by subject/department for example and they might stop asking.
Victoria Blyth
Information Strategy Manager
Information Management Team
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP
Tel: 020 8359 2015
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-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Derek O'Connor
Sent: 29 September 2016 14:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [data-protection] Publishing names of FOI/EIR requesters
In my annual report to elected members on the numbers of FOI/EIR requests received and dealt with, I include a list of the top 10 requesters by volume. I refer to them as requester 1, 2, 3 etc etc and only include a brief description of the detail of the request. I think this is useful as it shows the breath of the request received.
I am coming under pressure to disclose the names of the requesters, which I have refused as I cannot (I believe) justify the processing of their personal data. I have then been asked to just include their initials which again I have refused for the same reasons as they could be identified.
Anyone been down this road?
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