Another FOI waste of time?
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FOI deals with information that is recorded electronically. If the information is not recorded electronically then there is no obligation to release it under FOI.
Where information is recorded in a format that differs from that in the demanded answer, and the expense of reformatting it would cost more than £50, a charge may be quoted for producing the answer or an answer may be withheld.
There are circumstances where information may be withheld i.e. National Security or commercial confidentiality, but there are (simple) tests to be applied before citing these grounds for refusal.
Different Govt departments suffer from their own cultures as far as FOI is concerned. The Department is not supposed to lie, but the the Police Forces, MoD and BBC have sometimes failed to cover themselves in glory in this area; the BBC and Police spending tax money on fighting legal requests from the Data Commissioner's Office. It's partly understandable, as the the first 2 have to inculcate secrecy into their DNA - I make no further comment on the BBC.
Where the information has already been released or is available elsewhere, a simple reference to this source is all that is required.
FOI offers a great opportunity for military folk to develop non-core skills - in particular the pro-active use of marketing (see the RAF website). A simple link to the DE&S website could have deflected the enquiry about braid. Likewise, considering the presentational aspects of a matter (from the viewpoint of those that may disagree with you or wish to oppose you) and pre-releasing information can be a great time saver.
Where information is recorded in a format that differs from that in the demanded answer, and the expense of reformatting it would cost more than £50, a charge may be quoted for producing the answer or an answer may be withheld.
There are circumstances where information may be withheld i.e. National Security or commercial confidentiality, but there are (simple) tests to be applied before citing these grounds for refusal.
Different Govt departments suffer from their own cultures as far as FOI is concerned. The Department is not supposed to lie, but the the Police Forces, MoD and BBC have sometimes failed to cover themselves in glory in this area; the BBC and Police spending tax money on fighting legal requests from the Data Commissioner's Office. It's partly understandable, as the the first 2 have to inculcate secrecy into their DNA - I make no further comment on the BBC.
Where the information has already been released or is available elsewhere, a simple reference to this source is all that is required.
FOI offers a great opportunity for military folk to develop non-core skills - in particular the pro-active use of marketing (see the RAF website). A simple link to the DE&S website could have deflected the enquiry about braid. Likewise, considering the presentational aspects of a matter (from the viewpoint of those that may disagree with you or wish to oppose you) and pre-releasing information can be a great time saver.
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Bigbux is not quite correct - FOI relates to any information held by a public body, not just information held electronically. The fee relates to the cost of finding the required information (for example, time spent searchibg through paper or electronic filing systems) rather than simply the cost of reformatting information. An enquirer can request that the information is provided in a particular format, and nowadays this is quite likely to be some sort of electronic format, but a reply on paper would be equally acceptable if the enquirer had not specified a format.
Public bodies are encouraged to make information available via their websites, to avoid the need to respond to requests; this includes publishing the results of previous FOI requests, suitably redacted to remove the enquirers' identities as required under Data Protection legislation.
Public bodies are encouraged to make information available via their websites, to avoid the need to respond to requests; this includes publishing the results of previous FOI requests, suitably redacted to remove the enquirers' identities as required under Data Protection legislation.
Join Date: Apr 1999
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Having served in both Police and military, the ratio of "real" secrets protected by official secrecy versus incompetence and malpractice was around 1:10 . Put in a practical context, there was an obvious and genuine need for the addresses due for drugs raids to remain secret...but a less genuine need to hide that we actually got one of them wrong and levered open the wrong door!
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Innominate
General right of access to information held by public authorities.
(1)Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled—
(a)to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and
(b)if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.
I stand corrected - I should put you in touch with a Public Information Officer I once worked with!!!
General right of access to information held by public authorities.
(1)Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled—
(a)to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and
(b)if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.
I stand corrected - I should put you in touch with a Public Information Officer I once worked with!!!
Join Date: Jul 2007
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In the aftermath of the shooting, the BBC info about disciplinary offences on navy subs was illuminating though. God knows what was happening on Victorious.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/20...sciplinary.xls
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/20...sciplinary.xls
Join Date: Apr 2009
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I'm considering the following FOI request:
"Please confirm how much MOD staff time and, where appropriate, bandwidth was wasted on a pilot's Internet forum discussing an FOI request regarding rank braid."
"Please confirm how much MOD staff time and, where appropriate, bandwidth was wasted on a pilot's Internet forum discussing an FOI request regarding rank braid."
