FOI Man talks about his course on Practical FOI, calling FOI Officers to arms and other developments.

First off – an apology. I like to provide something new here every week if I can, but lately that just hasn’t been possible. But I haven’t been neglecting the world of FOI. So what have I been up to?

Well, for one thing, I’ve been following avidly the exploits of the Justice Committee. As others have noted, the SaveFOI campaign attempted to get me in front of the Committee but to no avail. Still, at least they have my written evidence. I haven’t had time to write a review of the post-legislative scrutiny evidence as yet, but the questioning of some members of the Committee appeared to suggest that a recommendation to charge for FOI requests is a distinct possibility. If you, like me, think that would be a most unwelcome step, you can register your disapproval, if you haven’t already done so, by signing the SaveFOI e-petition. And do keep checking the SaveFOI website – it is regularly updated with new blog posts and other material of interest to anyone who follows FOI developments (even if you don’t wholly subscribe to SaveFOI’s view of things).

But most of my time has been taken up as a result of a number of very kind invitations to speak at events. In April, the UCL Constitution Unit asked me to say a few words on my experience and views of FOI in higher education at a seminar they organised to discuss the results of their own research. You can see my slides, together with the initial findings of the Unit’s research, on their website if you’re interested (in the ‘Outputs’ section).

Last week, alongside such luminaries of the FOI world as Tim Pitt-Payne (Barrister with 11KBW and writer at Panopticon), Tom Steinberg (the man behind WhatDoTheyKnow.com and member of the Government’s Transparency Board) and Jonathan Baines (of Buckinghamshire County Council and Information Rights and Wrongs fame), I spoke at PDP’s annual FOI Conference. My theme was the role of FOI Officers in promoting FOI within their organisations. After all, if we don’t, who will?

Next month, on 18 June, I’ll be talking on the same issue at a seminar organised by the National Association of Data Protection and FOI Officers (NADPO). See their website for more details.

And last but not least, the highly persuasive Mr Ibrahim Hasan, of Act Now Training, asked me to develop and present a training course called Practical FOI.

Practical FOI is basically a one-day course on “How to be an FOI Officer”! I’ll explain how to build up expertise in FOI, using available resources. I’ll strip back records management to take away the fear. We’ll look at what methods work best for logging and monitoring FOI requests. And how do you deal with senior managers who don’t see the point of this FOI-nonsense? It’s all about the nuts and bolts of making FOI work for your organisation.

If you’re interested in my Practical FOI course, it will be running on 11 June and 16 November in London, and 22 June and 26 October in Manchester. Further details are available from Act Now Training.

And if you’re one of the few people interested in FOI in the UK who hasn’t seen me speak by the end of this summer, don’t despair! I’ll be back to regular blogging right here very soon.