1. Getting Our Act Together Rosemary Agnew
Scottish Information Commissioner
3 December 2013

2. Records are crucial for a democracy
Tim Ellis, 1 August 2013

3. Access to information is crucial for a democracy

4. Why?
Good records management is a prerequisite to effective accountability - critical scrutiny of public services: decision-making, provision and efficiency
FOI is a way to access that information
Records themselves form an integral part of our historical and corporate memory
Good information management is a prerequisite to effective accountability. Without it, critical scrutiny of public services: decision-making, provision and efficiency cannot take place.
FOI is a way to access that information
Records themselves form an integral part of our historical memory.

5. Good record keeping is crucial for effective application of FOI

6. Duties under FOISA/ EIRs
Advise and assist requesters
Respond in full to all requests within 20 working days
If refusing information, explain why and on what exemption the authority is relying
Adopt and maintain a publication scheme

7. Record Keeping: Relevance to FOI
To apply FOI well you must know:
What information you hold
Where it is
Its status
Where your information came from
Whose information it is
What your legal obligations are
What metadata you have
Under what terms you can share it & with whom
Good information management is a prerequisite to effective accountability. Without it, critical scrutiny of public services: decision-making, provision and efficiency cannot take place.
FOI is a way to access that information
Records themselves form an integral part of our historical memory.

8. Good record keeping is crucial for effective information governance
What is good for FOI is good for business!

9. Who is this? 1873, published 1876 Knowledge organisation tool
135 countries and many languages
Basis of many web-browsing mechanisms
Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey
Inventor of the Dewey Decimal Classification system

10. Transferable principles from DDC
System is owned and managed
Governance by an international board
Picks up trends in knowledge and literature
Scalable
Continuous development
Used rigorously

11. What can go wrong? In FOI terms: At its worst – section 65 allegation
Inefficiency leading to additional costs
Damage to reputation
Breach of security
Breach of DPA
65 Offence of altering etc. records with intent to prevent disclosure.
Where— 
a request for information is made to a Scottish public authority; and
the applicant is, under section 1, entitled to be given the information or any part of it,
a person to whom this subsection applies who, with the intention of preventing the disclosure by the authority of the information, or part, to which the entitlement relates, alters, defaces, blocks, erases, destroys or conceals a record held by the authority, is guilty of an offence.
Subsection (1) applies to the authority and to any person who is employed by, is an officer of, or is subject to the direction of, the authority.
A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
65A Time limit for proceedings
Proceedings for an offence under section 65(1) may be commenced within the period of 6 months beginning with the date on which evidence that the prosecutor believes is sufficient to justify the proceedings came to the prosecutor’s knowledge.
No such proceedings may be commenced more than 3 years—
after the commission of the offence, or
in the case of a continuous contravention, after the last date on which the offence was committed.
In the case of a continuous contravention, the complaint may specify the entire period during which the offence was committed.
A certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor stating the date on which the evidence referred to in subsection (1) came to the prosecutor’s knowledge is conclusive as to that fact (and such a certificate purporting to be so signed is to be regarded as being so signed unless the contrary is proved).
Section 136(3) of Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 applies for the purposes of this section as it does for those of that section.

12. What can go right? In FOI terms:
Efficiency of getting it right first time
Greater focus for proactive publication
Improved communications
Enhanced reputation
Compliance with legislation
FOI requests become the backstop

13. Contact Us Scottish Information Commissioner Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
KY16 9DS T: E: W: