Agenda item

To receive a report from the Head of Digital Transformation and Customer Engagement to review the Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environment Information Regulations (EIR) Policy to ensure compliance with legislation  and regulations.

The Cabinet had before it a report * from the Head of Digital Transformation and Customer Engagement to review the Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environment Information Regulations (EIR) Policy to ensure compliance with legislation  and regulations.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The revised Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations Policy be APPROVED.

2.    Delegation of the FOI/EIR Policy to the Head of Digital Transformation & Customer Engagement, in consultation with the IT & Information Governance (ITIG) board to ensure that the policy remained current and reflected any changes in legislative or regulatory guidance be APPROVED.

 The Cabinet had before it a report * from the Head of Digital Transformation and Customer Engagement to review the Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) Policy to ensure compliance with legislation  and regulations.

The Cabinet Member for Quality of Living, Equalities and Public Health outlined the contents of the report with particular reference to the following: 

• This Council’s commitment to both the FOI Act and the EIR Regulations, it provided clear guidance for officers and Members on how the Council met compliance obligations.
• The scope of the policy covered all recorded information held by this Council, or held on their behalf.
• The existing policy was based on best practice. There had been no legislative or guidance amendments identified as being necessary since the review of the policy in 2022.  There had been a small number of additions or amendments to the policy that provided further clarification around related legislation, the review panel practices, and the requirements around open Government Licensing under the Re-Use of Public Sector Regulations. These changes were highlighted in yellow on the policy draft.
• They reflected three areas of change: Section 3 – Relevant Legislation, brought all references fully up to date. Section 12 – Complaints Procedure, which outlined the Senior Information Officer review process. Whilst FOI reviews were not a statutory requirement it was the Council’s policy position to undertake a review within 20 working days.  (EIR reviews must be completed with 40 days.) Section 14 – set out in detail how the handling of enforcement, disclosure, refusals would be handled, and the costs regime under the Re-Use of Public Sector Regulations.
• It was important to note that disclosure was the default position. Information was only withheld where a legal exemption or exception applied, and in those cases written justification must always be provided. Requests were logged, performance was reported quarterly, and datasets were published in line with the Transparency Code to allow public monitoring.
• The Scrutiny Committee were now receiving more regular updates on the Councils performance, and their engagement had led to some improvements that were made to the webpages to provide improved visibility of requests and responses in June this year.  Those could be found by searching the website for disclosure logs.
• The policy also made it clear that FOI would not give access to an individual’s own personal data that was handled separately under data protection law.
• There had been ongoing public comments about the Council’s handling of information requests. FOI and EIR regulations were designed to facilitate access, but did not grant unrestricted access to all information. Interpretations about exemptions could vary, and it was the role of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to assess each case individually. That process could sometimes be complex and, importantly, the time taken to resolve disputes was determined by the ICO’s own capacity, not by this Council.
• Finally, the policy would be reviewed at least every three years with the next review due by August 2028.

RESOLVED that:

1. The revised Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations Policy be APPROVED.

2. Delegation of the FOI/EIR Policy to the Head of Digital Transformation & Customer Engagement, in consultation with the IT & Information Governance (ITIG) board to ensure that the policy remained current and reflected any changes in legislative or regulatory guidance be APPROVED.

(Proposed by Cllr D Wulff and Seconded by Cllr M Fletcher)

Reason for Decision:

Not complying with Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) would expose MDDC to the potential for Enforcement action by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

Note:* Report previously circulated.