FOIMan highlights a new FOI self-assessment toolkit issued by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
One of the proposed initiatives mentioned in the UK Information Commissioner’s access to information strategy Openness by Design last year was a toolkit to help public authorities to assess their processes for dealing with FOI requests and fulfilling transparency obligations. On Friday they announced the launch of the beta stage of the toolkit which focusses on timeliness.
Interestingly, the ICO have linked the toolkit launch to their previous statements on coronavirus and FOI. Their Group Manager of Insight and Compliance, Deborah Clark, is quoted as saying:
“Whilst the ICO remains pragmatic in its regulatory approach, we also now expect organisations to start putting clear plans in place to get back on track with their freedom of information work.
“The FOI toolkit will support public authorities to do just that.”
Please excuse another cheeky reminder that another tool to help with FOI compliance, The Freedom of Information Officer’s Handbook, is on offer until the end of the month with a 40% discount on the cover price.