Hi, Tom is absolutely right that the starting gun has been fired. There have already been a couple of stories along the line that Cabinet debates should not be subject to FOI [1], and the not-entirely-relevant-but-overlapping idea that the DPA should be revoked [2]. At the same time, the outgoing Scottish ICO commissioned research showing strong public support for FOI [3]
I read the general thrust of the report as "FOI is a great success, but probably costs too much money" (see para 221 in the Conclusion section, for example). There is a lot of space dedicated to how much requests cost (a total of 900,000 requests at an average cost of £160 - £254), to how authorities view the costs as being too high (e.g. opportunity costs of staff having to deal with requests other than their day jobs), and to the subject of vexatious requests. On the one hand, the WDTK team is committed to discouraging any non-serious requests. And in the context of severe budget cuts, it's clear that consicentious FOI officers are suffering [4]. Perhaps one thing we can do is add a note during the request process about the average cost of an FOI request (and/or an internal review)? Just along the lines of "please consider if this request is important enough to justify the average cost of answering it" (though worded much better than that, of course!). On the other hand, there is zero space in the report dedicated to the economic benefits of FOI (or the costs of *not* doing it) -- understandably, because it's impossible to measure. Anyone who's not seen Chris Taggart's excellent piece about the economics of open data [5] should read it! My view is that we can best help influence the debate with some statistics that might help underpin the economic benefits of FOIA. Perhaps some measure of "reach" for the data that we've published (based on how high a lot of it comes in google searches, and on our own Analytics)? Note that the call for written evidence ends in Feb 2012 [6]. The report states that there is more or less no data regarding FOI requestor's opinions about the process. Perhaps we can accelerate our own research in time for the written evidence, to bolster our credentials? Seb [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16229867 [2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2070326/References-worth-paper-theyre-written-data-protection-laws.html [3] http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/home/News/20111612.asp [4] http://www.foiman.com/archives/403 [5] http://countculture.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/the-economics-of-open-data-the-big-society/ [6] http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/justice-committee/news/foi-announce/ On 19 December 2011 16:33, Tom Steinberg <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I've just been sent the following link to an important new PDF > > http://bit.ly/tQ90L4 > > This document is important because it marks the start of a long > Parliamentary process that will almost certainly see the Freedom of > Information Act scrutinised, eulogised, defamed and generally fought > over, with view to lobbying for a reformed Act in the future. > > This PDF is a civil-service authored evidence paper for the Justice > Select Committee to use as the basis for their deliberations - so > don't expect highly opinionated fireworks. However, it's important > because it will set the scene for this Committee's deliberations, > deliberations which will likely end with recommendations about how the > FOI Act should be strengthened or weakened. > > I've only just got the doc, but in about 2 mins of scanning I see that: > > 1) It has some new evidence about the cost and numbers of FOIs made > 2) It contains anonymous quotes from people who work in the public > sector, about FOI and FOI requesters. > > In my view this marks the starting gun of an endurance race about the > future of FOI. And I guess the first thing to do is to see what this > actually contains. Red pens ready... > > Tom > > _______________________________________________ > developers-public mailing list > [email protected] > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public > > Unsubscribe: > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/options/developers-public/seb.bacon%40gmail.com -- skype: seb.bacon mobile: 07790 939224 land: 01531 671074 _______________________________________________ developers-public mailing list [email protected] https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public Unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/options/developers-public/archive%40mail-archive.com
