It should be emphasized that WDTK has the potential to save costs,
particularly where duplicate requests are being made. I'd like to see
it become practice for FOIA responders to perform a quick search on WDTK
and direct the inquirer there is an identical or similar request is
being made.
I don't see much value in highlighting the cost of an internal review
(it's not the requesters fault that some departments have a massively
inefficient process for handling this), but I do see a value in
education/tooltips/filtering. Perhaps asking requesters why they are
wanting to request a review and providing contextual help, including
suggesting where a review may not be the appropriate course of action.
We could even think about a "buddy" system as an expansion to the
comments people leave but aren't always read - "new to FOI, need some
help or advice" - I'd be happy to answer emails or a forum when I could.
Colm
/www.truthmonkey.org/
On 21/12/2011 11:31, Seb Bacon wrote:
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
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