The reason the HER Forum programme has been delayed is that I had invited the office of the information commissioner to send a representative to speak. Unfortunately despite giving a provisional yes over the phone I found out this week that they are unable to send anyone. I have asted then for a contribution to HER News instead. Hopefully a revised programme will be out shortly. Martin -----Original Message----- From: Lisk, Susan - Environment & Economy, Archaeological Services [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 17 November 2004 16:46 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Act Dear Emma, Hope this finds you and yours well. I think it's possibly my turn to ask a favour of you, which can't wait until the meeting in late Nov. OCC has just started to go through the process of informing us about the FoI, with the possible ramifications for the SMR. One of the best options sounds like your route of placing yours on the county's Publication scheme -- would it be at all possible for you to send me the text of that insertion for your SMR/HER? Our FoI people are interested, but are reluctant to put ours on the scheme until AFTER 1 Jan 2005. If you are able to send the text at your earliest convenience I might be able to customize it for our database and get it included in the next draft. do you happen to know if this is being discussed at next HER forum or at ALGAO HER Committee -- don't think I've seen it on any agenda. thanks in anticipation, Susan -----Original Message----- From: Emma Jones [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 06 October 2004 13:52 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Act Dear all, as I understand it.... In general, the spirit of FOI is to provide the public with an opportunity to find out what publicly funded bodies do, and how they do it. The act aims to make these bodies more accountable. The act is not designed to get in the way of the things that we currently do on a daily basis. The message from our legal dept. is as follows: Our HER is included in our local authority Publication Scheme, this means the authority has a legal obligation to make the information available during the times advertised in the Publication Scheme. The publication scheme states that charges may be made for commercial enquiries. Inclusion in the Scheme means that the HER information is not subject to FOI enquiries as our resource is "reasonably accessible". Charging for commercial searches: We offer a search service at our own discretion. There is no statutory requirement to provide this service, therefore we can charge a reasonable fee and this right is not affected by FOI. However, we are affected by FOI in other areas of our work. We may be questioned on enquiries we have responded to or decisions we have taken in the past ie. what we said, when and why. The implication is that we need to have filed paperwork efficiently as we have only 20 working days to complete a request (a holding letter does not stop the clock!). The restrictions on charging are not final yet. However, we will be able to charge for a percentage of the total cost (staff time taken to find information) and a certain amount for photocopying etc. The current example is 10% staff time and 100% of copying costs up to a maximum of £600.00. This is a complicated area and I am waiting for our legal people to explain this to me again. I believe that at a certain point (can't remember which point) we explain the charges to the enquirer, if they say to proceed we wait for the money to arrive before proceeding, if they refuse we are not obliged to complete the request under FOI. A few things to think about, or go and find out about : Your LA Publication Scheme Your LA asset register 20 days to respond to an FOI enquiry (the enquiry does not have to say FOI, but it does have to be in writing) The person who receives the request is responsible for ensuring the request is fulfilled, even if the information requested is held a colleague in another department! I will add to this email once I have had clarification from our legal rep. Emma Jones The information in this e-mail, together with any attachments, is confidential. If you have received this message in error you must not print off, copy, use or disclose the contents. The information may be covered by legal and/or professional privilege. Please delete from your system and inform the sender of the error. As an e-mail can be an informal method of communication, the views expressed may be personal to the sender and should not be taken as necessarily representing the views of the Oxfordshire County Council. As e-mails are transmitted over a public network the Oxfordshire County Council cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this message. It is your responsibility to carry out all necessary virus checks. www.oxfordshire.gov.uk