Management Board meeting papers.
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Please provide me with a copy of the following information:
1) Papers presented at the Management Board meeting of 22 July 2013 under items 5 and 6 of the agenda (Future funding models for the ICO and Immediate funding pressures respectively)
2) The Information rights reports that were presented at the Management Board meetings of 28 July 2014 ( agenda item 10), 28 April 2014 (agenda item 8) and 27 January 2014 (agenda item 11).
3) The Information rights report, corporate affairs report, and the report on registration service transformation that were presented at the Management Board meeting of 20 October 2014 (agenda item 10).
Yours faithfully,
Helen Cross
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office. We confirm
that we have received your correspondence.
If you have made a request for information held by the ICO we will contact
you as soon as possible if we need any further information to enable us to
answer your request. If we don't need any further information we will
respond to you within our published, and statutory, service levels. For
more information please visit [1]http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
.
If you have raised a new information rights concern - we aim to send you
an initial response and case reference number within 30 days.
If you are concerned about the way an organisation is handling your
personal information, we will not usually look into it unless you have
raised it with the organisation first. For more information please see our
webpage ‘raising a concern with an organisation’ (go to our homepage and
follow the link ‘for the public’). You can also call the number below.
If you have requested advice - we aim to respond within 14 days.
If your correspondence relates to an existing case - we will add it to
your case and consider it on allocation to a case officer.
Copied correspondence - we do not respond to correspondence that has been
copied to us.
For more information about our services, please see our webpage ‘Service
standards and what to expect' (go to our homepage and follow the links for
‘Report a concern’ and ‘Service standards and what to expect'). You can
also call the number below.
If there is anything you would like to discuss with us, please call our
helpline on 0303 123 1113.
Yours sincerely
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter can be found at
[2]http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
Find us on Twitter at [3]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
3. http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
8 January 2015
Case Reference Number IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
Request for Information
Thank you for your correspondence of 6 January 2015.
Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We will respond promptly, and no later than 3
February 2015 which is 20 working days from the day after we received your
request.
Should you wish to reply to this email, please be careful not to amend the
information in the ‘subject’ field. This will ensure that the information
is added directly to your case.
Yours sincerely
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
The Information Commissioner's Office
01625 545681
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
29 January 2015
Case Reference Number IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
Request for Information
Further to my acknowledgement of 8 January 2015 we are now in a position
to provide you with a partial response to your request for information
dated
6 January 2015.
In your email you asked us to provide you with;
1) Papers presented at the Management Board meeting of 22 July 2013 under
items 5 and 6 of the agenda (Future funding models for the ICO and
Immediate funding pressures respectively)
2) The Information rights reports that were presented at the Management
Board meetings of 28 July 2014 ( agenda item 10), 28 April 2014 (agenda
item 8) and 27 January 2014 (agenda item 11).
3) The Information rights report, corporate affairs report, and the report
on registration service transformation that were presented at the
Management Board meeting of 20 October 2014 (agenda item 10).
Unfortunately at this stage we are not able to provide you with all of the
information you have requested. We are not in a position to provide you
with copies of Information Rights reports requested. Although we have
taken steps to locate and collate the information you have asked
for unfortunately processing your request is taking longer to complete
than we had hoped.
We are in the process of considering the Information Rights Reports
and hope to be in a position to respond to this aspect of your request
shortly.
Due to the volume of information which we can send with our outgoing
emails I will be sending you the rest of the information requested as
three separate email attachments.
Papers for agenda item 5 of the 22 July 2013 meeting include a cover sheet
and report prepared on possible funding models.With this email please find
attached Review of Regulatory Funding report only.
We very much regret this delay, and hope that it does not cause you too
much inconvenience.
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to request a review of
our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled
you should write to the Information Access Team at the address below or
email [1][ICO request email].
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the Case Reception Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure can be accessed from our website [2]here.
Yours sincerely
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
The Information Commissioner's Office
01625 545681
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ICO request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
29 January 2015
Case Reference Number IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
Request for Information
I refer to my previous email in which I explained that due to the volume
of information which we can send with our outgoing emails I will be
sending you some of the information you have requested as three separate
email attachments.
In your email you asked us to provide you with;
1) Papers presented at the Management Board meeting of 22 July 2013 under
items 5 and 6 of the agenda (Future funding models for the ICO and
Immediate funding pressures respectively)
2) The Information rights reports that were presented at the Management
Board meetings of 28 July 2014 ( agenda item 10), 28 April 2014 (agenda
item 8) and 27 January 2014 (agenda item 11).
3) The Information rights report, corporate affairs report, and the report
on registration service transformation that were presented at the
Management Board meeting of 20 October 2014 (agenda item 10).
With this email please find attached a copy of the Corporate Affairs
Report requested at part 3 of your request.
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to request a review of
our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled
you should write to the Information Access Team at the address below or
email [1][ICO request email].
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the Case Reception Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure can be accessed from our website [2]here.
Yours sincerely
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
The Information Commissioner's Office
01625 545681
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ICO request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
29 January 2015
Case Reference Number IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
I refer to my earlier emails in which I explained that due to the volume
of information which we can send with our outgoing emails I will be
sending you some of the information requested as three separate email
attachments.
In your email you asked us to provide you with;
1) Papers presented at the Management Board meeting of 22 July 2013 under
items 5 and 6 of the agenda (Future funding models for the ICO and
Immediate funding pressures respectively)
2) The Information rights reports that were presented at the Management
Board meetings of 28 July 2014 ( agenda item 10), 28 April 2014 (agenda
item 8) and 27 January 2014 (agenda item 11).
3) The Information rights report, corporate affairs report, and the report
on registration service transformation that were presented at the
Management Board meeting of 20 October 2014 (agenda item 10).
With this email please find attached a copy of the report on Registration
Service Transformation presented at the Management Board meeting of 20
October 2014 (agenda item 10) and cover sheets for Future Funding Model
and Immediate Funding Pressures as requested, agenda item 5 and 6
at Management Board meeting of 22 July 2013.
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to request a review of
our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled
you should write to the Information Access Team at the address below or
email [1][ICO request email].
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the Case Reception Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure can be accessed from our website [2]here.
Yours sincerely
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
The Information Commissioner's Office
01625 545681
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ICO request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Thank you for the information that you have provided thus far. In your email of 29 January you stated that:
"We are in the process of considering the Information Rights Reports and hope to be in a position to respond to this aspect of your request shortly."
By law, the deadline for providing a response to my request was yesterday. Given that these papers form part of your publication scheme, I am quite surprised by the continued delay. Kindly provide me with an update as to when you expect to be in a position to release the reports that I have requested.
Yours faithfully,
Helen Cross
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office. We confirm
that we have received your correspondence.
If you have raised a new information rights concern - we aim to send you
an initial response and case reference number within 30 days.
Please note that if you are concerned about the way an organisation is
handling your personal information, we will not usually look into it
unless you have raised it with the organisation first. For more
information please see our webpage ‘[1]raising a concern with an
organisation’ (go to our homepage and follow the link ‘for the public’).
You can also call the number below.
If you want an internet search provider to remove a link to information
about you – it will be a little longer before we can respond. We are
currently considering the implications of the recent decision by the Court
of Justice of the European Union and will contact you again in the next
six weeks.
Please note that we will not look at requests to remove internet search
results unless you have first asked the search provider. You should also
send us copies of all related correspondence.
If you have requested advice - we aim to respond within 14 days.
If you have made a request for information held by the ICO - we will
contact you as soon as possible if we need any more information to answer
your request. If we don't need any more information we will respond to you
within our published, and statutory, service levels. For more information
please see our webpage [2]'access information about the ICO' (go to our
homepage and follow the link for ‘about the ICO’).
If your correspondence relates to an existing case - we will add it to
your case and consider it on allocation to a case officer.
Copied correspondence - we do not respond to correspondence that has been
copied to us.
For more information about our services, please see our webpage
‘[3]service standards and what to expect’ (go to our homepage and follow
the links for ‘Report a concern’ and ‘Service standards and what to
expect'). You can also call the number below.
If you have a matter you would like to discuss with us, please call our
helpline on 0303 123 1113 (local rate).
Yours faithfully
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter can be found at
[4]http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
Find us on Twitter at [5]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/raising...
2. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
3. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_work/s...
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
5. http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Information Commissioner’s Office's handling of my FOI request 'Management Board meeting papers.'.
Section 1(1) of the FOIA places an obligation on a public authority to inform an applicant whether or not it holds the information they have requested, and if it does, to communicate that information to the applicant. Section 10 of the FOIA states that when a public authority receives a request for information it must comply with section 1 within 20 working days following the date of receipt.
I submitted my request for various Management Board meeting papers on 6 January 2015 and you confirmed receipt of my request on 8 January 2015. The legal deadline for providing the information requested or issuing a valid refusal notice was 3 February 2015. Although you have supplied me with some of the information requested, I have yet to receive a copy of the Information rights reports that were presented at the Management Board meetings of 28 July 2014, 28 April 2014, 27 January 2014, and 20 October 2014.
On 29 January you stated that: "We are not in a position to provide you with copies of Information Rights reports requested. Although we have taken steps to locate and collate the information you have asked for unfortunately processing your request is taking longer to complete than we had hoped.
We are in the process of considering the Information Rights Reports and hope to be in a position to respond to this aspect of your request shortly."
Despite my prompting you for an update on 4th February 2015, none has been forthcoming. You have not supplied me with a copy of the information requested within 20 working days as required by section 1(1)(b) and section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act. You have not issued a valid refusal notice in respect of the information rights reports in accordance with section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act, nor have you informed me that you require more time to determine whether or not the balance of the public interest lies in maintaining any qualified exemption or that you need further time to consider whether it would be in the public interest to confirm or deny whether the information is held.
Please supply me with a copy of the information that I have requested as soon as possible and investigate why you have been unable to provide a response within the legal deadline on this occasion.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...
Yours faithfully,
Helen Cross
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office. We confirm
that we have received your correspondence.
If you have made a request for information held by the ICO we will contact
you as soon as possible if we need any further information to enable us to
answer your request. If we don't need any further information we will
respond to you within our published, and statutory, service levels. For
more information please visit [1]http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
.
If you have raised a new information rights concern - we aim to send you
an initial response and case reference number within 30 days.
If you are concerned about the way an organisation is handling your
personal information, we will not usually look into it unless you have
raised it with the organisation first. For more information please see our
webpage ‘raising a concern with an organisation’ (go to our homepage and
follow the link ‘for the public’). You can also call the number below.
If you have requested advice - we aim to respond within 14 days.
If your correspondence relates to an existing case - we will add it to
your case and consider it on allocation to a case officer.
Copied correspondence - we do not respond to correspondence that has been
copied to us.
For more information about our services, please see our webpage ‘Service
standards and what to expect' (go to our homepage and follow the links for
‘Report a concern’ and ‘Service standards and what to expect'). You can
also call the number below.
If there is anything you would like to discuss with us, please call our
helpline on 0303 123 1113.
Yours sincerely
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter can be found at
[2]http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
Find us on Twitter at [3]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
3. http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
12 February 2015
Case Reference Number IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
Thank you for your emails of 4 and 10 February. Please accept my apologies
that I have not replied to them before now.
Our response to your request is delayed - and we apologise for that too.
It has taken some time to deal with because the IRC reports you have
requested are lengthy and contain a variety of information, some of which
is provided to us by external sources and much is about our dealings with
those external bodies. Further, the reports are contributed to by several
people and teams across our business. We needed to consult with colleagues
over disclosure and then take decisions about what we can disclose in
response to your request. I accept that we should have explained this to
you sooner.
On the point you raise about the Publication Scheme - it does explain that
- "We publish the minutes of our Management Board meetings on this page,
and we also publish the papers from these meetings whenever appropriate."
The papers you have requested are mentioned in the minutes but with an
explanation that " at the time of the meeting this document was not for
publication."
However, we have made headway now and anticipate being able to respond to
your request by the end of February but, we will update you if this is not
possible for any reason.
I hope this is helpful to you. If you still require an internal review on
the time delay please let us know.
Yours sincerely
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
The Information Commissioner's Office
01625 545681
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
25 February 2015
Case Reference IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
I'm writing further to our email of 12 February. Unfortunately, we are not
going to be able to complete our response by the end of this week.
However, the consultations we mentioned previously are now complete and so
we should not need too much longer.
I anticipate we will be able to provide you with a complete response by
the end of next week - so by 6 March.
I apologise once again for the delay.
Yours sincerely
Helen Ward
Information Access Manager
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Thank you for your emails dated 12 February and 25 February respectively. I am extremely disappointed by the continued delay in providing me with a copy of the Information Rights Reports that I requested. Today was the 36th Working day since you received my request and 6 March would be working day number 43.
Whilst I am grateful for the explanation that you have provided as to why this aspect of my request is taking so long to process, I continue to find such a delay unacceptable, given that a response was due over three weeks ago. My frustration is heightened by the fact that the ICO are the public body responsible for taking action against public authorities who fail to meet the statutory deadline when answering FOI requests.
I can only repeat my request that you supply me with a copy of the information that I have requested as soon as possible. In answer to your question of 12 February, yes I would still like you to conduct an internal review as requested.
Yours faithfully,
Helen Cross
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office. We confirm
that we have received your correspondence.
If you have raised a new information rights concern - we aim to send you
an initial response and case reference number within 30 days.
Please note that if you are concerned about the way an organisation is
handling your personal information, we will not usually look into it
unless you have raised it with the organisation first. For more
information please see our webpage ‘[1]raising a concern with an
organisation’ (go to our homepage and follow the link ‘for the public’).
You can also call the number below.
If you want an internet search provider to remove a link to information
about you – it will be a little longer before we can respond. We are
currently considering the implications of the recent decision by the Court
of Justice of the European Union and will contact you again in the next
six weeks.
Please note that we will not look at requests to remove internet search
results unless you have first asked the search provider. You should also
send us copies of all related correspondence.
If you have requested advice - we aim to respond within 14 days.
If you have made a request for information held by the ICO - we will
contact you as soon as possible if we need any more information to answer
your request. If we don't need any more information we will respond to you
within our published, and statutory, service levels. For more information
please see our webpage [2]'access information about the ICO' (go to our
homepage and follow the link for ‘about the ICO’).
If your correspondence relates to an existing case - we will add it to
your case and consider it on allocation to a case officer.
Copied correspondence - we do not respond to correspondence that has been
copied to us.
For more information about our services, please see our webpage
‘[3]service standards and what to expect’ (go to our homepage and follow
the links for ‘Report a concern’ and ‘Service standards and what to
expect'). You can also call the number below.
If you have a matter you would like to discuss with us, please call our
helpline on 0303 123 1113 (local rate).
Yours faithfully
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter can be found at
[4]http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
Find us on Twitter at [5]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/raising...
2. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
3. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_work/s...
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/tools_and_resource...
5. http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
6 March 2015
Case Reference Number IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
Further to my acknowledgement of 8 January 2015 we are now in a position
to provide you with a final response to your request for information dated
6 January 2015.
I would first however like to apologise once again for the extended time
it has taken for us to provide you with all the information you requested.
As I hope is clear from what follows, preparing the response has been a
complex and involved process requiring consultation with multiple members
of ICO staff and this has taken some time to complete.
I note your wish for the time taken to respond to your request to be
internally reviewed. I have progressed this and you will hear from the
person nominated to conduct it shortly. The reference number for the
review is RCC0573661.
As you know we considered your request under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.
Your request
You asked us to provide you with;
1) Papers presented at the Management Board meeting of 22 July 2013 under
items 5 and 6 of the agenda (Future funding models for the ICO and
Immediate funding pressures respectively)
2) The Information rights reports that were presented at the Management
Board meetings of 28 July 2014 (agenda item 10), 28 April 2014 (agenda
item 8) and 27 January 2014 (agenda item 11).
3) The Information rights report, corporate affairs report, and the report
on registration service transformation that were presented at the
Management Board meeting of 20 October 2014 (agenda item 10).
Our response
We provided you with the information you requested on 29 January, apart
from the four Information Rights reports. Please see attached copies of
the reports. You will note there are some redactions. Due to the large
file sizes, these will be sent as four separate email attachments. With
this email please find attached January 2014 Information Rights report.
We have taken views about disclosure from colleagues with responsibility
for the work that the reports cover with the aim of providing as much
information as we can at this point in time. We accept that some of the
information might be less sensitive in the future and our conclusions
might be different.
We hope the information we are providing is of interest to you.
Information withheld
Information has been mainly withheld under the provisions of section 36
(2) (Prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) but also a
small amount withheld under section 31 (Law enforcement) and under
section 27 (International relations). All redactions can be assumed to
have been applied in respect of the exemption at section 36(2)(b)(i)
except for those we have denoted below as being under sections 27 or 31.
Please see how the exemptions work out below.
For the purposes of FOIA, the Qualified Person in respect of section 36
within the ICO is the Information Commissioner and we sought his opinion.
Section 36(2)(b)(i)
Section 36(2)(b)(i) provides that –
“Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in
the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the
information under this Act-
b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit-
1. the free and frank provision of advice “
It is the opinion of the Information Commissioner, that disclosure of some
of the information in the Information Rights reports would be likely to
inhibit the free and frank provision of advice to an extent that would
outweigh any benefits in transparency. And that the ICO would be less able
to do its job effectively if it was not accepted as a reliable partner in
policy development of often highly sensitive areas.
However, this exemption is not absolute. We have also considered where the
balance of the public interest lies.
The arguments in favour of disclosing the information centre on increased
transparency of the issues and proposals that the Commissioner is
consulted on – both in terms of greater visibility of the issues
themselves but also in the breadth of influence of the Commissioner.
Disclosure of the full reports would better enable the public to
understand the Commissioner’s thinking, involvement and decision making.
It would also provide more assurance that the Commissioner is involved in
the issues he should be involved in and is providing advice to better
compliance with the legislation he oversees.
Whilst these are valid arguments and do carry some weight, there is
significant public interest in maintaining the exemption. This side of the
argument is focused on ensuring that the Commissioner is a trusted and
able source of advice for stakeholders considering matters that require
consideration of information rights. This should result in better thought
out and more compliant initiatives and policies for the public to engage
with. We need stakeholders to be open and frank with the Commissioner in
order that we can provide proper considered advice and they can take
action to ensure that proposals or activities are compliant. Voluntary
cooperation with the Commissioner is more likely to result in productive,
positive and ongoing relationships with stakeholders. In some
circumstances we can compel stakeholders to provide information to us but
this is more costly and in the long term, less likely to engender good
working relationships. If the Commissioner prematurely, or in some cases,
ever discloses information which has been provided in confidence for the
purposes of ensuring better compliance, we are far less likely to have
open and productive relationships, running the risk of exposing the public
to poor information rights compliance.
Our conclusion is that the weight in maintaining the exemption outweighs
that in disclosure.
Section 31 (1) (g)
In the April, July and October reports under the heading “Enforcement”
within the reports, there are redactions – these are in reliance on
section 31 (1) (g) (regulatory action).
The exemption at section 31(1)(g) of the FOIA refers to circumstances
where the disclosure of information “would, or would be likely to,
prejudice – … the exercise by any public authority of its functions for
any of the purposes specified in subsection (2).”
The purposes referred to in sections 31(2)(a) and (c) are –
“(a) the purpose of ascertaining whether any person has failed to comply
with the law” and
“(c) the purpose of ascertaining whether circumstances which would
justify regulatory action in pursuance of any enactment exist or may arise
…”
Clearly, these purposes apply when the Information Commissioner is
considering whether or not a data controller has complied with their
information rights obligations and what action is appropriate, if any.
However, this exemption is not absolute. When considering whether to apply
it in response to a request for information, there is a ‘public interest
test’. That is, we must consider whether the public interest favours
withholding or disclosing the information.
In this case the public interest factors in disclosing the information are
increased transparency around the current status and detail of certain
investigations. However, the inherent and significant public interest in
the Commissioner being able to conduct investigations with the appropriate
level of confidentiality and space in which to formulate opinions and
actions outweighs that disclosure.
Section 27 (1) (a)
In all four reports there are redactions in the sections entitled
“International”. These are in reliance on section 27(1) (a) which sets out
that:
“(1) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act
would, or would be likely to, prejudice—
(a) relations between the United Kingdom and any other State”
Disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice the free and
frank exchange of information between the ICO and international data
protection authorities. Additionally there are duties of confidentiality
placed on the ICO in respect of information provided to us by other data
protection authorities.
The public interest factors in favour of disclosure focus on the increased
transparency around the Commissioner’s international role and how he
represents UK interests in that arena and, further transparency around our
regulatory approach. However, it is also of significant public interest
that the Commissioners respects the legitimate expectation of
confidentiality of his international partners and ensures that working
relationships remain collaborative and fruitful. It is important that we
can engage in full and frank discussions with international data
protection authorities to ensure better compliance and cohesion across
borders. Having considered the above we find that the public interest in
withholding this information outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
Finally, we would like to provide some explanation around a point in the
April report. Section 5.5 on page 21 “Introduction of Teacher Databases”,
is not entirely accurate. The DfE actually proposed to release decisions
made where teachers had had disciplinary proceedings taken about them by
the Secretary of State into the public domain. So it didn’t really
involve a database as such, and it would only have applied where the
disciplinary action taken was of a kind to merit a hearing carried out on
behalf of the SoS, not in all disciplinary cases.
I hope the information provided and the explanation above is of
assistance.
Once again please accept my apologies for the delay in providing with a
full response to your request for information.
Next Steps
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to request a review of
our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled
you should write to the Information Access Team at the address below or
email [1][ICO request email].
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the
Case Reception Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure can be accessed from our website [2]here.
Yours sincerely
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
The Information Commissioner's Office
01625 545681
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ICO request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
6 March 2015
Case Reference Number IRQ0566761
Dear Ms Cross
Please find attached July 2014 information rights report.
Next Steps
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to request a review of
our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled
you should write to the Information Access Team at the address below or
email [1][ICO request email].
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the
Case Reception Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure can be accessed from our website [2]here.
Yours sincerely
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
The Information Commissioner's Office
01625 545681
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ICO request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
Dear Ms Cross
Please find attached October Information rights report.
As I explained due to the large file sizes, reports will be sent as four
separate email attachments. As the report is large I am sending it from
outlook. With this email please find attached October 2014 Information
Rights report.
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
Dear Ms Cross
Please find attached April Information rights report.
As I explained due to the large file sizes, reports will be sent as four
separate email attachments. As the report is large I am sending it from
outlook. With this email please find attached April 2014 Information
Rights report.
Kussum Sharma
Lead Information Access Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
18 March 2015
Case reference RCC0573661
Dear Ms Cross
You recently asked for an internal review of our handling of your request
for information made under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA). Your
request was for copies of papers referred to in the minutes of our
Management Board meetings. It was handled under reference IRQ0566761.
My name is Paul Arnold. I’m the ICO’s Head of Customer Contact and
Business Development. I’m responsible for our Information Access Team and
have conducted our review of the handling of your request. I’ve had no
prior involvement with the handling of the request other than as one of
those who had contributed to the papers you requested, and who was
therefore consulted as part of the request handling process.
Your original request for information was made on 6 January 2015. On 29
January we provided you with some of the information you were entitled to
within the statutory 20 working day limit. Unfortunately we were not able
to provide you with the Information Rights Report content until 6 March
2015. This is clearly a considerable delay over and above that permitted
within the FoIA and I would like to add my apology to that already
provided by Kussum Sharma (the original request handler), and more
recently, Helen Ward (our Information Access Team manager).
We certainly aim to respond to all requests for information within their
permitted timescales. Where this does not happen we review why and apply
any lessons we’ve been able to learn to the way future requests are dealt
with.
Having now done this for your request I can offer you the following
information, which I hope you find of assistance in addition to the
apology provided above.
As described in our publication scheme – “we publish the minutes of our
Management Board meetings on this page, and we also publish the papers
from these meetings whenever appropriate.” The Information Rights reports
are lengthy, compiled by many contributors and likely to contain content
that is time sensitive and so we are unlikely to be in a position to
publish them at the time of the publication of the minutes. These factors
also meant that decisions about disclosure are not necessarily quick to
make in every case.
At the time your request was received we believed it should be possible to
respond within 20 working days. However, the consultation process did not
prove as straightforward as had been hoped. A number of the consultations
needed multiple discussions to be completed and many of those involved
were out of the office at some key times.
As the deadline for your response approached it became clear that further
consultation was needed in some key areas. Having reviewed the way your
request was handled I believe that an opportunity was missed to inform you
of this at the earliest opportunity. We notified you that your request was
going to be delayed but I would have liked to see us explain why a lot
more clearly. We did do this eventually, but it should have been done at
the same time we first responded to you on 29 January.
I also note that when you emailed us on 4 February, asking for an update
once your request had passed the 20 working day threshold the day before,
we did not respond to you until after you chased a response on 10
February. This should not have happened and I apologise for any further
inconvenience or frustration this caused you.
When any information request is delayed the work involved in responding to
it changes slightly. As well as identifying sufficient resources to
minimise the delay, additional time is often needed to keep the requester
informed. Prior to the delay a requester will typically be content to
assume that they will receive a response as promptly as possible, before
the statutory time limit passes. In cases where this response is then
delayed it is important to recognise that a requester’s expectations need
to be updated. We simply failed to do this in your case and in so doing
provided you with a poor service, which caused you to need to chase us for
further information we should have already provided to you. Again, please
accept my apology for this. Changes will be made to our procedures to make
sure due consideration is always given to the expectations of our
requesters and we communicate proactively wherever we can.
When we contacted you on 12 February we committed to respond to you by the
end of February and additional resources were allocated to the completion
of your request. Unfortunately, our office was then impacted by industrial
action in the final week of February which meant we were unable to
complete the consultations necessary to provide you with our final
response, with this then being provided on 6 March.
The specific lessons learned from our experience when handling your
request are as follows:
To review the way internal consultations are conducted to make sure every
opportunity is taken to minimise the need for follow up discussions before
a final position can be reached.
To make sure requesters are kept well informed of progress in the small
proportion of requests where a delay may be possible.
Although the final delay which saw us responding on 6 March rather than
before the end of February was extremely disappointing, given the
circumstances created by the industrial action I don’t believe there was
any action we could have taken to have met our end of February commitment
to you. When we committed to this time scale on 12 February we had no way
of knowing that it would be impacted by industrial action which, at the
time, had not been announced. As soon as it became clear that the final
consultations could not be concluded before the end of February we wrote
to you, on 25 February, to inform you of this.
I hope the above information has helped you to understand the reasons for
the delay in our response to your request. As I have explained above,
having conducted this review there are two key lessons for us to learn and
feed back into our request handling process. Please again accept my
apologies that the time taken to respond to your request was extended
because of them.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this review please don’t
hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Paul Arnold
Head of Customer Contact and Business Development
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of this review, you can report
your concern to the ICO as the regulator of the FOIA, under section 50 of
the FOIA. You can get further information about this from the ‘[1]Report a
concern’ section of our website.
If you are already familiar with this process, you can send your
information by email to [2][email address] , or by post to Customer
Contact Department, Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...
2. mailto:[email address]
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