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Until the DfE refuse an FOI request not made through their form, and
there is no evidence they'd be that stupid just yet, then this
remains merely their preference. WDTK are right to refuse the request and people should continue to make requests to the DfE in whatever manner suits them best. On 21/02/2011 17:24, Francis Davey wrote: On 21 February 2011 17:14, Michael Bimmler <[email protected]> wrote:http://twitter.com/WhatDoTheyKnow/status/39715557578113024 was the tweet in questionFurther tweets since then say "The Department for Education prefers correspondence via its own online form; it wants us to point our users to that." and "What the DoE want us to do is point our users to their online contact form."Very naughty. The FOI Act permits individuals a great deal of flexibility in how they make FOI requests and how those requests are responded to. Forcing people through an online form would be unlawful. It would also be foolish. There are lots of reasons why all sorts of people would find an email easier and an email keeps a record for the sender, which a form does (in general) not do. Severe dyslexia, for example, can make form filling very difficult (unless by happy chance the form is beautifully written - such things being rare beyond price). But it seems to me that public bodies have absolutely no comprehension of the FOI Act and get it wrong all the time. This is how it _should_ work: [1] Train all your staff (a very, very short session at some regular meeting will do - 30 minutes tops, in some organisations a memo might do it) to follow your procedure. [2] When anyone is asked a question in writing by a member of the public, the staff member either answers the question or, if they think that it will take longer than (say) a week to do so, or that they don't want to for some reason, then refer to FOI officer with an explanation. [3] The FOI officer then considers it and makes the appropriate response. At the moment everyone starts at [3] which is stupid. There's no reason to be heavyweight about it. You should just naturally answer any question asked if you can do so easily (or refer to someone else who will do it easily) and have no good reason not to. If in doubt, pass it up the line. So, the FOI Act could be good, but the public sector don't seem to understand it and we have what we have. |
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