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. 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The British Council is registered in England as a charity. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ All archives of messages are stored permanently and are available to the world wide web community at large at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html If you wish to leave this list please send the command leave data-protection to [log in to unmask] All user commands can be found at : - http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list owner [log in to unmask] (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^