Purely personal opinion here - not my employer's official view but what I
think when people ask me who has made a request.
It's an instinctive reaction is to ask who has made a request, and I do not
see that as illegitimate. The FOI officer has a responsibility for ensuring
that all requests are responded to properly, and without discrimination
against the applicant. However, this isn't the same thing as keeping the
applicant's identity a secret. I have dealt with instances where the
applicant has requested anonymity, especially where third parties are
concerned. I always respect this, and I also routinely avoid disclosing the
applicant's identity to third parties when consulting them.
Nevertheless, to refuse to tell my colleagues or manager who has made a
request, particularly when they are more likely to deal with the
consequences of a disclosure than me, seems unnecessarily prim and lacking
in trust. Some colleagues like to know the background, and I cannot see any
reason why they shouldn't. In DP terms, I think it should be within the
applicant's reasonable expectations that their identity will be known to
staff within the organisation. I am happy to work for an organisation where
officers have knowingly disclosed information to their most awkward
correspondents - if the only way I could ensure consistency was to refuse to
tell my colleagues who applicants were, I would be worried.
Tim Turner
Data Protection / FOI Officer
Legal and Property Services
Wigan Council
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Serewicz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 30 May 2006 12:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Anonymity when making FOI requests of your
ownorganisation
While I accept that such a view about openness and transparency can be put
forward, I am not convinced that human nature supports it. If the government
were about openness and transparency, in its dealings with the public, would
we need to protect whistleblowers?
More to the point, the question is not whether the applicant must give an
identity, it is whether that identity should be shared widely within an
organisation. The two are related, but they are different.
When I first started to discuss FOI requests, I was surprised to find that
the first questions asked were "Why do they want to know that?" The next
question is then "Who is asking". Neither of these are material to
answering 99% of the FOI requests.
Is it fair processing that Mr. Smith's request for information about paper
purchases is known by senior managers? Does Mr. Smith's identity change
anything about the content of the response? We have strict limits about
sending someone's housing claims around an authority's internal e-mail, why
should someone's FOI request be handled differently? An applicant's
identity should be shared on a need to know basis otherwise is that fair
processing?
Lawrence
Lawrence W. Serewicz
Scrutiny Manager
Management Support Unit
Wear Valley District Council
01388-761-985
"Carter, Antoinette (MCS)" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
<[log in to unmask]>
30/05/2006 12:07
Please respond to
"Carter, Antoinette (MCS)" <[log in to unmask]>
To
[log in to unmask]
cc
Subject
Re: [data-protection] Anonymity when making FOI requests of your
ownorganisation
I take the view, and it is my personal view, that FOI is about openness
and transparency, and that if you expect that of the government
department you are dealing with, you should be equally open in your
dealings with them.
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lawrence Serewicz
Sent: 30 May 2006 11:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Anonymity when making FOI requests of
your ownorganisation
I was under the impression, although happy to be corrected, that the
applicant's identity was not something that should be shared unless
necessary. For example, pace the IC's Birmingham decision, identity may
be needed to determine whether a request is vexatious. If the request
is for potentially personal data, which would shift the request into
data protection.
I fear that requests will dry up if senior managers can know who is
making a request and on what topics. Knowing human nature, I would be
seriously surprised if senior managers want to know the identity for
benign purposes. Even if the person has not made the request
anonymously, there is an expectation that their request is what matters
not who they are.
I recall reading a background article that pointed out that it would be
good practice to keep the applicant's identity as confidential as
possible. (I cannot find the article, but the case remains in my mind.)
The article cited a case in Japan where the government agency was taken
to court by the applicant because his application was being treated
differently because people knew he was making the request. The Japanese
agency was told not to refer to applications by the person's name and to
keep knowledge of that information to those that needed to know. Would
we be processing mr. smith's information fairly if we circulated the
identity of his requests throughout the organisation?
As I said earlier, I am quite willing to be educated on this issue.
Lawrence
Lawrence W. Serewicz
Scrutiny Manager
Management Support Unit
Wear Valley District Council
01388-761-985
"Carter, Antoinette (MCS)" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
<[log in to unmask]>
30/05/2006 11:03
Please respond to
"Carter, Antoinette (MCS)" <[log in to unmask]>
To
[log in to unmask]
cc
Subject
Re: [data-protection] Anonymity when making FOI requests of your own
organisation
The member of staff could have submitted their request anonymously but
has chosen not to. I therefore think that it is perfectly reasonable
for you to identify the requester to whoever you need to contact in
order to answer the request irrespective of any "awkwardness" it may
cause. I'm sure managers have worse to deal with...?
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Graeme Hawley
Sent: 30 May 2006 10:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [data-protection] Anonymity when making FOI requests of your
own organisation
Hi,
What is the score when an employee makes an FOI request of their own
organisation? I am the FOI officer at our organisation, and have
received a request for info from a member of staff. They have supplied
their name and email address. I am pretty sure that in gathering the
information for this, senior management will ask who this has come from.
There isn't usually a problem when it is external, and I can say
something like "a jounalist from the Telegraph", but it will be clear
from the nature of the question that this has come from inside. Despite
being the FOI officer, a request made for information isn't made
personally to me, but rather to the organisation. I am just the guy
that handles them. However, in order to satisfy the request, there is
no need for anyone else to know the identity of the applicant. On the
other hand, the organisation itself has received this request, so who am
I to say who else in the organisation should or shouldn't know? I feel
that if the management knew the identity of the applicant it may cause
awkwardness for them (damage and distress).
Does anyone have any suggestions. In order to withhold the member of
staff's name I think I need some sort of refernece from the DPA. FOISA
doesn't say anything about this.
Cheers
Graeme
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