J1 Freedom of Information

Background

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) give wide-ranging rights of access to government information to the public. There are exemptions to these rights, but most of the information held by DFID will be disclosable on request to anyone worldwide. Any request for information from a person or organisation outside DFID, which is not publicly available or would not be supplied to the requester in the course of normal business, may be an Freedom of Information (FOI) or EIR request.

Under FOIA, it is a criminal offence to alter, deface, block, erase, destroy or conceal any record held by a public authority (including DFID) with the intention of preventing the disclosure of information to a requester. Compliance with the FOIA and EIR is regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and by the Openness Unit within DFID. The Openness Unit is part of the Corporate Hub.

Compliance Tasks

1. All information requests that mention Freedom of Information (FOI) and/or the Environmental Information Regulations must be sent to Openness Unit immediately upon receipt (there is a 20 working day statutory timescale for responses).
Task assigned to: All Staff

2. Any information request that is likely to be refused, regardless of whether or not it mentions FOI or EIR, must be referred to Openness Unit immediately.
Task assigned to: All Staff

3. All information relevant to a FOI or EIR request must be provided to the Openness Unit for review and in accordance with deadlines set by the Openness Unit.
Task assigned to: All Staff

4. All information requested, regardless of age or format, must be released unless an FOI exemption or EIR exception applies in a particular case.
Task assigned to: All Staff

5. No responses to FOI or EIR requests are to be sent or agreed to be sent to requesters by DFID staff other than by the Openness Unit who will handle the issue under FOI or EIR on behalf of DFID.
Task assigned to: All Staff

6. No refusal to provide information under FOI or EIR may be sent by DFID staff other than the Openness Unit who will handle the issue under FOI or EIR on behalf of DFID.
Task assigned to: All Staff

7. Any complaint about the handling of an information request under FOI or EIR must be forwarded to the Openness Unit.
Task assigned to: All Staff

Risks of non-compliance

• Loss of information or breach of confidence, prosecution and official criticism
• Damage to DFID's reputation for openness and transparency
• Failure in duty of care to staff or others
• Actual harm to personal privacy, commercial confidentiality, international relations, candour of internal discussion, willingness of partners to share information, etc
• Detrimental impact on resources from protracted searches, correspondence or complaint cases
• Legal challenge to DFID for acting incompatibly with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations
• Adverse finding against DFID by the ICO or Information Rights Tribunal

Associated learning and skills

• Half-day FOI course (mandatory for all Quest Information Managers and recommended communication staff).
• Basic FOI awareness component in Corporate Induction and e-learning induction.
• All staff to have read the basic FOI briefing on inSight.
• Basic FOI awareness presentation/briefing for all records staff as part of registry training.