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FreePint Freedom of Information Exchange

This seminar provided an overview of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which places obligations on a number of public authorities:

	the general right of access to all types of "recorded information"
	the exemptions from that right, and the "public interest" test
	the adoption and maintenance of publication schemes

The Act covers 88,000 public authorities including central government, local government, police, armed forces, NHS, schools and universities.

Whilst the right of access doesn't come into effect until January 2005, there are a number of schemes already in place for providing access to information (such as the right of subject access under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Environmental Information Regulations); publication schemes are being introduced according to a phased timetable over a 2 year period from 2002-2004; and public authorities need to be gearing themselves up to be ready to handle FOI requests from January 2005.

The session covered:

	practical issues to consider when implementing FOI, and what you need to be thinking about now
	the discrepancies between the Data Protection and Freedom of Information regimes
	the role of the publication scheme
	records management issues
	handling FOI requests
	right of appeal, complaints procedures, and compliance matters
	copyright issues

The seminar leader was Paul Pedley, Head of Research, Economist Intelligence Unit.

The seminar was run as an interactive session in which delegates were actively encouraged to share their experiences of implementing freedom of information within their own organisations; and to bring any burning questions that they might have had.

Paul maintains an information law weblog at www.paulpedley.com and is currently writing a book on legal issues in information work for Facet Publishing <http://www.paulpedley.com/Pedley flyer.pdf>. He represents Aslib on the Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance <http://www.cilip.org.uk/laca>, and is a member of the steering group for the JISC Legal Information Service <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/legal>.

All attendees received a handout on freedom of information which included the PowerPoint slides, background information from the Office of the Information Commissioner, a bibliography of supporting documentation (including details of relevant legislation, codes of practice, guidance notes, articles, books, and useful websites).