As one of the several people who already played this little game ad nauseam (but with ultimate success) with London Borough of Brent, I'm happy to send Havering SFC a little note on this - drawing on the great work which Ganesh S. did with the House of Commons.
Usually the line "Look, the House of Commons administration tried to argue that it doesn't need to release documents to WDTK, and they failed before the ICO - are you really sure that you have better arguments than them?" works like a treat...Otherwise, the ICO's Enforcement team is now also sensitive to this kind of bad practice and can respond relatively robustly. In the Brent case, they sent them a letter basically saying "Either you'll comply with WDTK requests now, or we'll start chasing you with Enforcement Notices and so on, which is not much fun for you..." Best Michael On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 3:11 PM, Mark Goodge <[email protected]> wrote: > A while ago, someone (can't remember who) tweeted that Havering Sixth Form > College is refusing to accept FOI requests via WDTK: > > http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/**body/havering_sixth_form_**college<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/havering_sixth_form_college> > > Having a spare five minutes, I dashed off a quick request directly to them > to try and get at the reasons for the policy. I got their reply today. > > I'm not planning to take this any further - Havering Sixth Form College is > a tiny speck in the FOI ocean and Havering is well outside my patch, so > it's really of near-zero interest to me. But if anyone is interested, or > feels like blogging about it, or whatever, their full response (and my > original request) follows. If you do blog about it, feel free to quote any > or all of this; you don't need to ask for any further permission. > > Mark > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: RE: FOI procedures and poliicies > Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:44:59 +0100 > From: FOI <[email protected]> > To: Mark Goodge <[email protected]> > CC: Roger HAWKINS RMH > <[email protected].**uk<[email protected]> > > > > Mark, > > I have attached a copy of the FOI policy relating to requests made to the > Corporation. > > I can confirm that the College will not respond directly to a request made > through WhatDoTheyKnow.com (or any similar website) unless the information > required to make the request valid under the Act is provided. When that > information is provided then a response is made directly to the person who > made the request. The College will only respond to requests made > inaccordance with the Act. Where a request was made through this website > then the person making the request has been advised to use the formal > procedure set in place by the College. > > The decision not to respond to WhatDoTheyKnow (or any similar website) was > confirmed at a Steering Committee meeting held on 29th February 2012, the > minutes of which are not currently available on our website. I have copied > in Roger Hawkins (Clerk to the Corporation) so that he is aware of this and > would ask him to forward you the relevant minutes relating to FOI which > were raised at that meeting. There is no other internal documentation > available regarding this matter. > > Regards > FOI > > ______________________________**__________ > From: Mark Goodge [[email protected]] > Sent: 23 August 2012 17:20 > To: FOI > Subject: FOI procedures and poliicies > > Dear FOI Officer, > > This is a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. > > I note that you are currently refusing to respond to requests made via > the WhatDoTheyKnow.com website on the grounds that they are not using > the correct email address and are not being sent directly. > > Please could you supply me, therefore, with a copy of all your > documented procedures and policies relating to Freedom of Information > Requests, as well as any internal documentation related to the decision > not to respond to requests made via WhatDoTheyKnow.com. This should > include copies of any emails and/or memos in which this decision was > discussed or mentioned. > > Your response should be sent via email to me at '[email protected]'. > > Regards > > Mark Goodge > > This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended > solely for the use of the individual(s) to whom it is addressed. Its > contents may be confidential and/or subject to legal privilege and should > be treated as such. It should not be copied, disclosed, retained or used by > any other party. > > Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not > necessarily represent those of Havering Sixth Form College. > > Although we have checked this email for viruses, it is your responsibility > to scan the message and attachments prior to opening them. We do not take > responsibility for loss or damages caused by viruses. > > If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take > any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please > contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error. > > Please consider the environment before printing this email. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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/mbimmler%40gmail.com > -- Michael Bimmler Zuerichstrasse 119 8700 Kuesnacht Switzerland +41 44 912 20 18 +41 79 864 88 18 [email protected]
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