Some information courtesy of Staffordshire police, much of which applies to every constabulary or Public Authority.
(the AI image generator is human-like …. struggling with spelling … just like me!)
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act received royal assent on 30 November 2000, with full
provisions brought into place on 1 January 2005.
To celebrate this milestone, we wanted to share with you some FOI ‘did you knows’:
- Did you know the first form of FOI was introduced back in 1766 and it was the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act, making it the oldest in the world!
- Did you know that since 2016 Staffordshire Police has received 11,180 FOI requests, all serviced by the FOI team in the Central Disclosure Unit (CDU)
- Did you know that all information held by Staffordshire Police, regardless of what it is, what system it is stored on, what GSC markings are on it or where it originated from falls under the FOI Act
- Did you know that the FOI Act allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to request information held by a UK public authority. The requester does not need to say why they want the information.
- The request must be in writing and cannot be made verbally
- there is no form required.
- Requests can be submitted via social media
so it’s important that everyone recognises a request and passes it to the FOI team foi@staffordshire.police.uk without delay
- Did you know that we are required to deal with FOI requests promptly and in any event no later than the twentieth (20th) working day following the date of receipt. It is therefore important that foi@staffordshire.police.uk are made aware of requests promptly and that any requests sent to you for information held are returned promptly to the FOI Team. The clock starts ticking as soon as the request is received in force, regardless of where it is received.
- Did you know that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the Regulator and oversees the FOI Act. The ICO can take enforcement action against public authorities that do not comply with the legislation. Staffordshire Police were issued with a practice recommendation on 19/11/2024 around our non-compliance with the FOI Act, you can read it here.
- Did you know FOI training is mandatory for all Staffordshire Police officers and staff – have you done yours? We all have the responsibility to respond to FOI requests when asked to ensure that we are compliant and our practice recommendation does not escalate to an enforcement notice
Question … are Vehicle Registration Marks (VRMs) ‘personal data?
Answer … can be read here.