Training Materials for COINS

Dear Her Majesty's Treasury,

I would like to request a copy of the training materials that are
given to new staff to the Treasury as they are familiarising
themselves with the COINS accounting system.

Yours faithfully,

Lisa Evans

Dear Her Majesty's Treasury,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Her Majesty's
Treasury's handling of my FOI request 'Training Materials for
COINS'.

For the training materials given, the screenshots of COINS have
been redacted.

You seek to rely on the exemption in section 43(1) of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 however I consider that this exemption is
not engaged as the screenshots are not trade secrets. The term
'trade secret' is not defined in the Act however the Information
Commissioner has considered the meaning of the term (FS50156040).

In considering this question the Commissioner has noted that in
Lansing Linde Ltd v Kerr [1991], the court defined a trade secret
as "...information which, if disclosed to a competitor, would be
liable to cause real (or significant) harm to the owner of the
secret. I would add first, that it must be information used in a
trade or business, and secondly that the owner must limit the
dissemination of it or at least not encourage or permit widespread
publication."

Firstly, the screenshots from the COINS database are not used as
part of a trade but rather for the purpose of training public
sector officials to use software as part of the administration of
public finances.

Secondly, it is unlikely that the disclosure of screenshots would
cause real or significant harm to the owners of the screenshots or
even the owners of the software. A competitor would gain little
advantage from screenshots as it would be unlikely that the system
could be replicated without information about coding and data base
structure that could not be gained from screenshots alone.

Thirdly, the fact that the COINS system is bespoke which means that
it is unlikely to be suitable for other customers in its present
form which further mitigates against any possibility of harm caused
by the publication of these screenshots. It is also common in the
software industry to provide screenshots in marketing materials and
tender presentations which further suggests these should not be
regarded as trade secrets.

Even if the exemption was engaged the screenshots should
nevertheless be disclosed as there is a very strong public interest
in the transparency of public finances and the systems and controls
used to ensure that public funds are used effectively and in
accordance with the law. There is a public interest in enabling
members of the public to see that public officials are receiving
appropriate training in the use of software and also that the
software is fit for purpose.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/tr...

Yours faithfully,

Lisa Evans

Dear responses, FOI,

Please could inform me why this internal review has taken more than
20 days?

Yours sincerely,

Lisa Evans

Dear responses, FOI,

Thank you for this thorough review. I take your point that the
screen-shots do not provide direct information on how public
finances are managed.

Given the publication of large parts of the COINS data, that has
occurred while this internal review was taking place, the value of
the screen-shots is less.

I shall therefore not take this issue any further.

Many thanks,

Lisa Evans

Dear Her Majesty's Treasury,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Her Majesty's
Treasury's handling of my FOI request 'Training Materials for
COINS'.

Given the challenge of interpreting various releases of COINS data,
it would be useful to have the full training notes (without
redactions) in order to avoid unnecessarily interrupting the work
of treasury staff with questions about COINS.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/tr...

Yours faithfully,

Lisa Evans

Dear Her Majesty's Treasury,

Apologies, after reading the full notes, I realise that there are
only screen shots redacted, and three instances of text. As I'm not
concerned about the screen shots and the redacted text was replaced
with a good alternative, I'm with drawing this internal review.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours faithfully,

Lisa Evans