"It's because of legal advice THEY'VE had" - if this means the public
authority, then correspondence then the request should be (or should have
been) put to the public authority and not the Councillor.
There is a fundamental distinction between disclosing legal advice and
justifying the legal basis for a position. The former is (to an extent, of
course) protected by LPP, the latter is what anyone should be prepared to do
when a dispute arises which engages points of law.
Of course, an unhelpful public authority might refuse to explain their legal
position, saying a request for a statement of a legal position is not a
request for information falling under FOIA.
The next best thing to do would be to write to the Council's FOI officer
saying you understand that the Council feels under a legal duty to report on
FOI statistics, and could he explain the legal basis behind the belief. Cut
the Councillor out of the picture.
(I should add that I can't think of any specific legal duty to report stats,
but there are more general audit requirements and expectations on a public
authority which might explain the position).
Jonathan Baines
Legal and Democratic Services
Buckinghamshire County Council
tel: 01296 383681
fax: 01296 382421
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Roland Perry
Sent: 11 May 2010 07:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [data-protection] Statistics for FOI requests
This is a spill-over from a discussion on another list...
A District Councillor says he dislikes FOI because it costs the council a lot
of money to track, and report on statistics regarding the number of requests
outcomes etc.
Others say that they can see no requirement to do that, in the Act or OIC
guidance [I haven't checked if that's true].
Councillor changes tune and says it [the tracking etc] is because of legal
advice they've had.
(You can guess the next bit...) Someone asks him 'under FOI' for a copy of
that legal advice.
He refuses because (a) he says he's not a public authority, and (b)
disclosing legal advice is exempt.
Oddly enough, he didn't reply to a previous 'FOI request' for the cost to the
council of the bureaucracy he dislikes.
Before this all gets completely out of hand, who is right so far... and
what's the best next thing to ask?
--
Roland Perry
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