Freedom of Information Policy

If a requester is not satisfied with their FOI response they have the right to make an Internal Review request for the response to be reconsidered. All Internal Review requests must relate to a previous Council FOI response and should be submitted within 40 days of the FOI response.

The Information Governance Team will designate an officer to review the response who should be different to the officer co-ordinating the original FOI response (currently this is designated as the Information Governance Officer).

The process followed should replicate that of the FOI response where the Information Governance Officer will review the request and original response and action accordingly with services. It should be noted that it is best practice, but not legally mandated, to respond to Internal Review requests within 20 days, which will be the council’s aim, subject to additional requirements, for example a public interest test or consultation with third parties. Internal Reviews are also subject to the same escalation procedure as FOI requests but Executive Directors will be informed of all new Internal Review requests and responses.

An Internal Review request challenges the response given, often on the basis of exemptions applied. It is not the following which will be treated as specified:

• Questions asking for clarification on information provided: Treat as part of original FOI request, respond as soon as possible
• Additional questions about the information in the response: Treat as a new request - action within 20 days, follow process from start
• Questions about the subject not related to the original request: Treat as new FOI and follow process from start
• Questions regarding how a service operates or why a decision was made: Treat as service request and advise accordingly
• Complaints or concerns raised in response to information provided: Treat as service complaint and advise accordingly
• Comments or verbal abuse regarding response/subject/service: Log and escalate if appropriate, responding (or not) as advised

The designated reviewing officer will have the final decision on the outcome of the Internal Review, advising services and seeking legal advice or conducting public interest tests if necessary.

Searches for information

If an Internal Review raises a concern that the Council has not provided all email correspondence that it holds on the subject matter of their request, the Information Governance team will make a request to the ICT Team for an email search specifying criteria and will review all emails returned.

If it is considered that such a search is necessary, the Information Governance team will advise the relevant service and submit the request to the ICT Team via a contribution request as soon as is possible in the 20 day timeframe. The relevant Executive Director will also be informed as part of the notification of a new Internal Review request.

Where a request to the ICT Team or an email search is required and returns additional information to that supplied by the service, this will be reported to CMT as part of the monthly Corporate Dashboard FOI update.

The Information Governance team will maintain a record of the search results until the case has been confirmed as closed. This may include the closing of any associated complaints to the Information Commissioner. The search results will be held for 6 months on Outlook and then saved for a further 2 years in SharePoint. Relevant information will be expected to be held by the service in line with the Council’s Records Retention Schedule (to be reviewed as part of the 2024 Council- wide Data Protection Audit).

Public Interest test

If evidence is required to uphold an exemption a public interest test may be conducted by the reviewing officer in the Information Governance team, seeking further information or evidence from services and legal advice if necessary. The reviewing officer may also need to consult with third parties to check their position on releasing or withholding information related to them (e.g. contractor costs or commissioned reports). Services will need to comply with the outcome of the public interest test.

Response

Internal Review responses will be sent in a standard format generated using the case management system setting out all required background, evidence and information. All responses will provide contact information for the ICO if the requester wishes to make a complaint.

If requesters come back with a further Internal Review request this will be considered on the basis of the above criteria to determine the action taken. In the spirit of transparency and co-operation the Information Governance team will endeavour to provide as much information as possible from the outset to close the case but recognise that certain requests are complex and potentially contentious. If appropriate follow up Internal Review/follow up question requests will be treated as new FOI requests. Unless there is a specific reason for conducting a second further internal review (which cannot be treated as a new request), the requester will be advised to contact the Information Commissioner if they are not satisfied with the initial Internal Review response.