Ministry of Justice andthe Information Commissioner’s Office Liaison Meetings

Note of the MOJ/ ICO Liaison Meeting on 6 May at 102 Petty France

Present

Belinda CroweInformation Director, MOJ

Richard ThomasInformation Commissioner

Graham SmithDeputy Information Commissioner

Joan LewisHead of Finance and Performance Management for DCL

Nicola WestmoreHead of Data Protection Policy Unit

Simon EntwisleChief Operating Officer

Peter BloomfieldSenior Corporate Governance Manager

Jill O’SullivanSponsorship and Data Protection Policy

Agenda item 1 - Apologies and Introductions

1Joan Lewis and Jill O’Sullivan were introduced to the group.

Agenda item 2 - Minutes and Action Points from the meeting on 20 January 2009

2The action points were discussed.

Action point 1The Information Commissioner’s Surveillance Report

Nicola and Belinda Lewis had met with Home Office colleagues in w/c 7 April to discuss the funding and scope for the Commissioner’s work to agreea way forward – MOJ would start drafting a scoping document and Home Office would input into that: and a funding solution had been identified and was being worked on this week. The Commissioner observed that it would not now be possible to do a report for 2008/09 and so the first report would be for the period 2009/10.

Action point 1aAgreement on the Framework Document

The ICO were content to merge the current framework document with the HMT model framework document however the exact format needed to be discussed and agreed. Some detailed issues also remained to be resolved including the year end carry over. It was agreed that the Commissioner’s successor and the MOJ would complete the Framework review as soon as possible.

Action point 2The ICO’s accommodation strategy

Plans for the ICO’s accommodation strategy had been agreed with MOJ. Planning permission had also now been given.

Cleared.

Action point 3Providing MPs with an alternative approach (to PQs) to getting factual information on the ICO

It had been proposed that where MPs wanted factual information about the ICO’s performance, it would be appropriate to facilitate direct access to request that information from the ICO directly.

Action point: Jill would follow this proposal up with Michael Wills’ Private Office.

Cleared 26 June 2009. Ministers are advising MPs to contact Simon Entwisle for this kind of information.

Action point 4ICO to sample their FOI caseload to identify patterns which would explain the increase in cases received

Simon would conduct a sampling exercise at the end of July.

Action point 5MOJ to explore the opportunities for secondees to the ICO co-locating with TNA staff

MOJ would pursue this with TNA.The ICO had created a narrative about secondees’ experiences at the office. They would re-send this to Jill to arrange for it to be more widely disseminated, to encourage people to apply.

Action point 6ICO to provide information on staff turnover in FOI teams

The HR report provided information on staff turnover in the organisation but information was not available on FOI staff only. Staffing in the ICO was now in a steady state, with little churn since October 2008. Consequently, the number of recruitment campaigns had reduced.

Superseded

Action point 7ICO to provide information on unit cost figures for FOI work

The Budget Report presented to the meeting included cost unit information on a more sophisticated basis than that which could be provided on unit costs for FOI work.

Cleared via Budget Report

Action point 8The Personal Information Promise

Jonathan Bamford, Belinda Lewis and Nicola had identified a way forward on the PIP. MOJ were developing a form of words as a basis for agreement with the ICO.

Action point 9Review of European Directive on Data Protection

The review publication date had been brought forward to 12 May.

Cleared The report has now been published.

Action point 10Greater collaborative working between MOJ and ICO Comms

A meeting had been arranged between Sue Fox, Stuart Watts and Jill O’Sullivan to take this forward.

Cleared A productive and useful meeting took place in June and arrangements are being made for regular meetings to take place every 2 months.

Action point 11ICO were to clarify the kind of recruitment campaigns (88) conducted

Cleared The number of recruitment campaigns had reduced as staff numbers had stabilised.

Agenda item 3 - Expenditure for 2008/09 (ICO)

3The ICO had come in on budget in 2008/09.

Agenda item 4 - Budget and Business Plans for 2009/10 (ICO)

4The budget for 2009/10 had been approved by the ICO management board. Spending plans were predicated on the introduction of a tiered DP notification fee but the ICO had contingency plans in place, eg in the event that the fees were not increased as expected. Nicola gave an update on the status of the fees regulation changes. Nicola expected the fees regulations to be laid before summerrecess. ICO and MOJ would need to liaise on the dates as the ICO needed to ensure that arrangements would be in place for the new fee system.

5The ICO would provide a robust business case for how they would use the £.5m additional FOI funding to clear the older FOI cases.

Agenda item 5 - Operational Report (ICO)

6The overall story is an increase in both DP and FOI cases. A significant turnover of staff, combined with an increase in DP cases received, has had an impact on case handling. The ICO are tackling DP caseload issues and anticipate clearing the older cases.

7The senior triage panel (FoI) is working well and the number of case closures continues to increase. Organisational changes and increased levels of experience are having a positive impact, as is the reducing proportion of cases progressing to a formal decision. However, the number of cases received continues to increase.

  • Action point 1- MOJ would send the ICO (Simon) information about the number of FOI cases received in MOJ.

Cleared The MOJ published the FoI Annual report for 2008 and Q1 2009 Monitoring Statistics on 25 June 2009. MOJ sent the ICO a link to the publications.

  • Action point 2 - Therewere opportunities to share best practice in dealing with large caseloads which include older cases. Andy Laing (ICO) would be put in contact with Richard Goodman (MOJ to facilitate this.

Andy and Richard have been passed each others’ contact details.

  • Action point3 - Graham Smith would share with Belinda Crowe guidance he is developing on employees’ FOI requests of their employers.

Agenda item 6 – Data protection issues

8The Commissioner highlighted the progress of the Bill and noted that he anticipated responding positively to the Minister’s letter on assessment notices.

9The drafting process for regulations on the civil monetary penalty was proceeding. MOJ expected that the monetary penalty and amendments introduced by the C&J Bill would be introduced as a package at the same time.

  • Action point4- Once they had decent versions, MOJ would send copies of the SIs to the ICO.
  • Action point 5 – MOJ would check whether the instructions to lawyers included any indication of the proposed likely maximum amount of the penalty.

10The ICO completed its Hampton Review at the end of April. They have received verbal feedback and anticipate the draft report in about 2 weeks. The review had welcomed the ICO’s risk based approach and was likely to recommend an improved approach to the ICO/ MOJ relationship.

Agenda item 7 – Freedom of information Issues

11The ICO are preparing their report on the use of the veto to Parliament as required in statute (DQ – check this)

12The ICO was concerned that they had not yet seen a further draft of the Memorandum of Understanding.

  • Action point 6 -MOJ undertook to get a draft to the ICO by the end of the week.

Cleared MOJ sent the MOU to ICO on 8 May.

13The ICO expected that the UCL report on policy making was likely to be released after purdah. It might be discussed at FOI Live.

  • Action point7- The ICO planned to copy a pre-release version of the report to the MOJ.

Cleared ICO sent a copy of the pre release version of the UCL report which was finally published on 10 June 2009.

Agenda item 8 – Communications and External relations

14The ICO introduced the Communications report which was commended.

Agenda item 9 - Human Resources Issues (ICO)

15The fruits of the Human Resources strategy launched by the ICO 3 years ago were now bearing fruit with fewer vacancies and more experienced staff. Investors in People had given the ICO a clean bill of health and recommended they go for full accreditation.

Agenda item 10 - Risk Register (ICO)

16The ICO had changed the format of their risk register, they had revisited and revised the risks and made the mitigating actions more specific. They had included a section on possible future risks which MOJ particularly welcomed.

Agenda item 11 - Any other business

17MOJ reported that we expect an announcement on the appointment of the new Information Commissioner week commencing 4 May.

18Belinda Crowe welcomed the informal contact between the ICO and MOJ but wanted to emphasise the need to record significant decisions made and to ensure that parties to an agreement or conversation had a clear understanding of what information had been shared or what had been agreed.

19MOJ confirmed that theyplanned to consult on data sharing following the removal of Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill.

Jill O’Sullivan

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02 minutes and action points from the meeting of the 6 May