FOI shake-up good news for public says local lawyer
FOI shake-up good news for public says local lawyer
Kirstin Scott
A SELKIRK lawyer has welcomed news that Scottish Borders Council is making major changes to radically improve the way it deals with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests after a damning assessment of its performance was released last week, writes Andrew Keddie.
But Kirstin Scott says "the proof of the pudding will be in the eating" after an action plan was drawn up at Newtown to address the criticism by Scottish Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion.
Mrs Scott has been trying to establish through FOI what land and buildings in the town are held in the town's common good fund.
Mr Dunion reveals that more than 200 (29 per cent) of the 710 requests SBC received last year were not dealt with within the 20 working day maximum timescale set out in the FOI legislation which was rolled out six years ago.
Following an assessment by inspectors in February, Mr Dunion also highlights inadequate staff training and awareness as well as over-dependence on a single employee: the data compliance officer (DCO).
"Historically, the council had not complied with its [FOI] responsibilities in that it failed to respond to requests within the required timescale, provide applicants with detailed responses or inform them of their rights in terms of the legislation," states Mr Dunion.
Henry Thompson, SBC's head of business and technology solutions, said 63 per cent of the 27 actions required to address Mr Dunion's 10 recommendations, had now been fulfilled.
New web pages, entitled Borders Informs, and giving details of all requests and responses, will go live on the council's website in August and a report on further actions to increase training and speed up responses will be presented to councillors the following month.
Mrs Scott has made three FOI requests to SBC in the past year - and on each occasion she has been forced to go to the Information Commissioner because responses were not received within the timescale.
In July last year, she sought details of the sale by of the former football pitch at Ettrick Park. It took until September for the council to tell her they did hold all the information she required and Mr Dunion found SBC had failed to comply with legislation.
The other two requests, asking for details of the compensation paid to the family of the late tenant of Smedheugh Farm and a full inventory of what SBC owns in Selkirk, are also now with Mr Dunion's office.
Mrs Scott told The Wee Paper:"I have dealt with four other councils in Scotland and never experienced such tardiness. I'm glad Mr Dunion has highlighted these weaknesses, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. The spirit of this important legislation must really be embraced."
The assessors found that all requests at SBC were automatically forwarded to the personal in box of the DCO which, during the inspection, contained more than 12,000 pieces of correspondence but could not be accessed by other members of staff.
Mr Dunion orders SBC to "address the distinct and pressing need for general awareness training throughout the organisation...and more focused training for those with specific responsibility for dealing with information requests."
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Weather for Selkirk
Friday 25 May 2012
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