Freedom of Information [FOI] blitz
Tuesday 28 – Thursday 30 October 2014
Team
Current Situation
47% of FOI deadlines were not met for the period 1 April 2013 – 31 March 2014
[the deadline for a response is 20 working days from the date the request is sent]
Team:
Laurence Bebbington, David Blair (Project Lead), Brian Henderson, Lynda
Johnston, Christine Kay, Lorna Maguire, Toni Moyela, Duncan Stuart
[Representatives from – PPG, CLSM, HR, IT Services, Library, Registry,
Student Life]
BI Facilitators:
Marion Malcolm + Gillian Strachan (Aberdeenshire Council)
 Scatter gun approach – difficult to know what information we hold, who holds
it and whether we hold it at all
 Not perceived as a high business priority
 Very mixed level of awareness and knowledge of our obligation as a public
body
 PPG have very limited time to apply exemptions or redaction once they receive
the information back from the section
 Estimate that 45% of current enquiries are straightforward – we are just too
late at retrieving info
 Some requests are simple, others are complex
 Some requests contain one question, others contain multiple questions
 Requesters are becoming more sophisticated in terms of what information
 they are asking for
 FOI requests are NOT going away!! – there has been an 120+% increase in
requests received by the University of Aberdeen in the last 5 years
Goals for the blitz
Current Process
The team looked at the whole process from an FOI request being received to a
response being sent – and also if a requester asks for an internal review. The
University meets its internal review process deadline and it works well,
therefore the team concentrated on the 1st process map.
Management Goals + their discussion, leading to Team Goals
Team Goals
 Provide a relevant response to an FOI requester
within the 20 working days deadline
 Highlight the benefits of FOI requests for staff and
the reputation of the University
 Enact a culture change to encourage positive
behaviours for compliance
New Process
Benefits
Action Plan
FOI BLITZ ACTION PLAN
ITEM
PPG
Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
FOI request
received
Allocate FOI
reference
number
Acknowledge
requester
with FOI
reference
number from
spreadsheet
Check if we
already have
information
Check
previous FOI
information
to identify
section coordinator
For complex
response
return to
PPG
Contact
section coordinator
with deadline
PPG checks
response
PPG publish
information
in a template
FOI
response
sent
Log date of
FOI
response
sent
Co-ordinator
Section
No
Consider
request and
distribute
within
section
Any
concerns
speak to
PPG
(exemptions)
Individual
staff to
respond to
co-ordinator
Simple
Response?
Yes
Finalise
response and
send to
requester for
‘simple’
response
only
Advice/info/training on UoA web
pages for staff + other modes of
communication
Change wording to clarify what is BAS
(Business As Usual) and what is FOI
(Freedom of Information) - and
highlight 20 day deadline
Revise wording etc to explain the FOI
process (inc benchmarking what other
Unis doing)
Are web pages in right place?
Training programme - different levels
of requirement for different
roles/engagement
Email behaviours
WHO TO
PROGRESS?
WHO TO CONSULT APPROVAL?
WITH?
Brian, Lorna +
David
N/A
N/A
31/12/2014
N/A
N/A
31/12/2014
N/A
N/A
31/12/2014
Lynda to liaise with
Debbie Dyker
31/12/2014
Brian, Duncan,
Lorna + David
Lorna, David,
Brian
David, Lynda
Lynda
Susan Maclennan
Heather Crabb
TIMELINE/
DEADLINE
COMPLETED?
Email sent to FOI coordinators (current
contacts until FOI Coordinators
nominated)
Subject header wording to be changed FOI Request + ref no + deadline
David/Lorna
N/A
N/A
From 31/10/14
New FOI Coordinator post
Head of School/Directorate to
nominate FOI Coordinator
Duties + reponsibilites for FOI
Coordinators - draft list produced at
blitz
Directors Group
to facilitate
Directors Group - to
be raised on
03/11/14
Caroline Inglis
Heather to chase
individual
30/11/2014 Directors
Lynda
Liaise with Debbie
Dyker
Debbie Dyker
30/11/2014
New process to be implemented
New time frames to be complied with
Key points:
 Differentiate between simple and complex/risky FOI
 5 steps to be removed from simple requests
 Pulling process forward in time
 Putting in 5 day and 15 day “warning” points
 FOI co-ordinators to be identified in depts and College
(will be responsible for the quality control of responses,
particularly when sections respond themselves)
 General and specific role based training
 Coherent reporting
 Many changes not IT dependent
Information gathering/Consultation
 Identified areas for improvement
 Looked at stats for current processes and extrapolated figures to
show benefits
 Discussed new process with representatives from sections that
deal with FOIs, particularly sections that have high numbers of
requests
 Representatives supportive of new process (particularly
warning points) but concerned about workloads for staff
 Fine-tuned the new process after consultation
From 01/02/15
From 01/02/15
David + Lorna +
Susan Maclennan
Lynda
Training of new FOI Coordinators
Set up network of FOI Coordinators
Reporting
Revise reporting to make it more easily
understood
David + Lorna
Prepare a new template to look at how
we are presenting our stats against
compliance
David + Lorna
Quarterly reporting to Directors Group
+ regular reporting to MMR
David + Lorna
IT
Investigating the IT system to manage
the new process/workflow
Brian
Investigate redaction software
Brian + David
Debbie Dyker
Jennifer
Jennifer
Jennifer
Mark Lewis + Pat
Browne
Communications/"Joining the dots"
Communication plan
Getting staff to use the publication
scheme
Lorna + David
Lorna
Promoting better records management Lorna
Theresa Merrick,
Directors Group
Caroline
31/01/2015
31/01/2015
 Maximise compliance rate ie meeting
the 20 day deadline
 Reduce burden or fear of FOIs for staff
 Staff can find information more easily
and quickly
 Staff/UoA can share and make better
use of our own information
 Enhance reputation of University of
Aberdeen as an exemplar institution in
terms of accountability, trust + openness