Socitm offers FOI guidance

Organisations needing to comply with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act should put their web sites and information management systems at the heart of their efforts, according to a new report from Socitm, the governing body for IT in the public sector.

The report, Freedom of Information in 2005, suggests a number of steps to help bodies comply with the new law.

Socitm emphasises that organisations' web sites can minimise the burden of responding to FOI requests. As each request is handled, the relevant information should be placed on the web site on a daily basis. This information is then readily available online in case similar requests are made in future, and it enables people to help themselves to data. The report adds that bodies should therefore ensure their web sites are easily accessible and simple to navigate.

Hertfordshire Council has already devised an FOI Publication Scheme, available on its web site. "This [web site] provides a listing of the classes of information we already have available and how to obtain it. The Publication Scheme will be extended to incorporate further changes," reads a note on the site.

Information should be frequently reviewed for accuracy and legal currency, and updated as required. The report advises organisations to draw up retention policies to determine which documents to archive and which to destroy, including the lifetimes for each category of record based on legal requirements.

Rosemary Jay, FOI Act specialist at legal firm Pinsent Masons, said organisations should refer to the records management Code of Practice for guidance on data archiving, available at the third web link below. "The code sets out how firms should make decisions about the retention schedules and removal of information," she said. "Firms must also take a view as to what are their statutory responsibilities for retention and their business reason for retention."

Jay said public bodies should already have developed an FOI Publication Scheme and policy for managing information. "You should then have a process in accordance with your policy to review [stored data] in five or 10 years, for example. Organisations should also record what information they have destroyed," she added.

Good IT systems are essential for this information management. "Information is only as good as the method of retrieving it. It must be tagged with metadata and have an index of what is covered," said Jay.

See also:

Requests roll in for FOI

Legislation putting more demands on IT managers  12 Jan 2005

"Patchy" preparations for FoI Act

House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee reveals that preparations for FoI Act were "patchy" across the public sector  04 Jan 2005

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