This course will give you the tools to deal with FOI and EIR requests. This isn’t a dull trek through the FOI provisions; this is about developing a strategic approach to FOI, looking at how to create a process that is fast, effective and fair. In the morning, we’ll work through a detailed process for receiving, filtering, clarifying and logging requests.

In the afternoon, we look at the exemptions – not so much a list of what the exemptions say, but an examination of the prejudice and public interest tests, getting evidence and consulting third parties, as well as the appeals process. This is more about the kind of arguments that you need to put together than a tick box exercise of what all the exemptions are. At the end, you’ll have the knowledge to shake up your organisation’s approach and get better outcomes from everyone involved in the process.

Course includes:

• Developing an FOI strategy – corporate measures to ensure that information is properly organised, accessible and available (and deleted when it’s no longer needed)

• Testing your FOI procedure

• Establishing when information is ‘held’

• When identity of the applicant is relevant

• Clarification

• The cost limit and aggregating requests

• Vexatious refusals

• Assemble the evidence for a refusal

• Measuring prejudice

• The ICO + appeal process