FOIMan highlights upcoming events that you may be interested in.

Just a quick post to highlight a few FOI and information rights events that you may be interested in.

Firstly, a reminder that I’ll be chairing Understanding Modern Government’s “Excel at complying with FOI requests” workshop on 17 November. Amongst the other speakers will be Lynn Wyeth (@lynnfoi) of Zombie FOI requests fame, and a speaker from the Information Commissioner’s Office to update us on their new boss’s priorities. You can find out more and get a £50 discount by visiting the Understanding Modern Government website and entering the following discount code: MGPA4A2. The discount is available if you book by 11 November.

If you want an in-depth look at subject access under data protection, places are still available on my Managing Subject Access Requests course for Act Now Training on 2 November. We’ll also cover handling of personal data under FOI during the day. Further details and booking can be found on Act Now’s site.

Having got the plugs for my events out of the way, here are details of a couple of others that sound interesting.

Is there a democratic deficit in the archives? If there is, it will be pinpointed at this event at Northumbria University on 24th and 25th January. Speakers include the new Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, and Sarah Tyacke, former head of the National Archives and member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel. It sounds like it will be fascinating and a snip at £75.

Always worth keeping an eye out for NADPO (National Association of Data Protection – and FOI – Officers) events. They have a couple coming up, one also featuring the new Commissioner. Unfortunately their events always seem to clash with my other commitments but if you can get a place, there is always plenty on their agenda that will be useful and interesting.

Finally, the Information Law and Policy Centre at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) are hosting their annual workshop and evening lecture on 9 November. All sorts of interesting stuff will be discussed covering FOI, data protection, surveillance and human rights, all under the heading of “Restricted and Redacted: Where now for human rights and digital information control?”. And best of all, it’s free – but you have to book in advance. Unfortunately I can’t make it, but it does look a great event if you have space in your diary.