Comments on: Fobbing off with FoI?

By: What to do when you’re told ‘put in an FOI for an answer to that.’ « David Higgerson

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:05:26 +0000

[…] – so what’s the best thing to do in such circumstances? I’ve posted my thoughts on Judith’s blog, and I think there’s probably a useful discussion to be had around dealing with such […]

By: Sally Perry

Sally Perry — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:34:48 +0000

Thanks Judith for highlighting this and David for your response. We did approach the Cabinet member (also deputy leader) on this matter as we felt that a response separate from that of the non-political workers of the IWC was reasonable to ask for.

He referred us to the response from the chief exec, which was this,

“The issue to which you refer will not generate any different responses from either a managerial or political perspective so there is no need to direct the same questions to the cabinet member or myself and we will respond with the information and comment necessary to answer your questions.”

He also says, “We suggested the FOI route as this is a time logged and tracked approach guaranteeing you a response within a particular timeframe.”

An article just published on the cost of the council bi-monthly magazine is another example, we asked for a breakdown of costs in July. Received this week after nudging but only the last three months instead of the five years requested.

By: David Higgerson

David Higgerson — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:45:53 +0000

Obviously, I don’t know how Isle of Wight Council operates but my main concern about the ‘treat this as an FOI’ stance is that questions posed by a journalist to a press office are constructed in a very different way to questions posed under FOI.

If you do a search through Google News for ‘Freedom of Information’ (the way I often compile FOI Friday), you’ll normally find two or three similar examples where councils or public bodies try to dodge tricky questions by pushing them on to an FOI officer. Sadly, the guidelines you’ve listed are just that – not laws.

If it was me, and the advice I give reporters in this situation, is to decide whether it’s worth publishing the fact the council is appearing to delay the release of information – as VB has done. I’d also suggest approaching the cabinet member/senior councillor responsible for this area directly and see what they make of it. And there’s probably mileage in the fact that turning a press request into an FOI instantly makes it more expensive for the council to deal with – at a time when they are supposed to be doing things more cost effectively.

Good luck!