Email:
Tel No: 0207 641 3921
Fax No: 0207 641 2872
Date: 7th July 2011
To
S Cooper
By email
DearS Cooper
Re: Freedom of Information Request7247
Thank you for your recent request to the Council. You asked to be provided with the following information:
1) Please provide details of the "steps taken to remind all
departments of the requirements of the act".
2) Please provide the minutes of the last review of your FOI
procedures.
Response
1) Please provide details of the "steps taken to remind all departments of the requirements of the act"
Staff are reminded of the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on an ongoing basis. This may be a general reminder of the statutory obligations of the Act, or by way of request-specific advice. The Council has also reviewed its FOI reporting procedures to ensure that Senior Management are apprised of their business area's performance with regard to complying with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
All of the above are delivered by a number of means such as briefings and bulletins, discussions in person, by email and telephone.
2) Please provide the minutes of the last review of your FOI procedures
FOI Compliance was discussed in a review meeting on the 4th April 2011.
Although no formal minutes were produced, I can confirm that there were a number of agreed action points arising from the meeting, which are copied below:
Present: Alastair Gilchrist (AG)
David Wilde (DW)
Fatima Zohra (FZ)
Robyn Fairman (RF)
Sofia Nikolaou (SN)
Catherine Preston (CP)
1.CP to discuss with complaints manager process for complaints and FOI to identify any similarities in process to aid in streamlining [CP]
2.CP to provide AG with statistics on overdue requests and departments without DROs in place [CP]
3.RF to provide list of budget holders to K & IM Team to allow reporting on FOI compliance to take place [RF]
4.AG to set FOI compliance as standing item on SEB/SLT agenda [AG]
5.Review operational allocation process for FOI (logging, chasing etc) – can this be passed to Dingwall to administer? [DW]
6.Agreed funding for 4Learning CBT product – rollout to staff who are failing to comply in the first instance [DW]
7.Comms to look at lobbying Central Govt for extension to 20 working day for FOI [SN]
8.Comms / K & IM Team to discuss types of request to look at publishing more information [CP/SN]
9.CEX/AG to sign undertaking from ICO on behalf of WCC [AG]
10.K & IM Team to produce monthly reports on compliance with FOI across the council for SEB/SLT [FZ]
11.K & IM Team to top and tail briefing note for AG to take to SEB/SLT on current FOI compliance [AG]
12.AG to send note to top contractors reminding them of obligations under FOI and process to follow [AG]
I hope this fulfils your request. Should you have any queries, please contact me at the address above.
Yours sincerely,
Knowledge & Information Management Team
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