New guidelines have been released by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to help organisations respond to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, particularly small public sector organisations.
The newly published checklist is targeted at FoI practitioners in small public authorities and includes tips for searching internally for the right information to answer FOI requests. A set of key steps public authorities should take in searching for information is central to the checklist, which can be accessed here. The ICO has also updated its Guide to managing a FoI request page with extra guidance for Section 14 FOIA vexation requests.
“We know that many of those dealing with FoI requests in small organisations are time poor and are juggling answering FoI requests with other duties,” said Deborah Clark, ICO upstream regulation manager. “This checklist is a quick and simple way for them to increase their confidence in conducting FoI searches and help them find the correct information the first time.”
The ICO’s annual virtual conference takes place on October 8, 2024, and includes a number of workshops on how to handle FoI requests and complaints.
