Freedom of Information Act request

[BatchFile]

I've just had the following email passed to me:

 

From: Tom Eliott [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 14 June 2010 11:12

Subject: Freedom of Information Request

 

Hi,

 

I am conducting a survey into what ICT schools are using. Under the Freedom of Information act, please, can you provide answers to the following questions? Many thanks! (If you’ve already published this information online somewhere please just put the URL if it will save you time.)

 

How many ICT users are there within your school?

Do you have dedicated (operational) ICT staff/department?(ie excluding any teaching departments)

How many of the following items does the school have?

a. desktops

b. laptops

c. laptop trolleys

d. printers

e. whiteboards

f. projectors

g. servers

4. Do you run a wireless network?

5. How much storage space do you use for your ICT data?

6. What email platform are you currently using?

7. What operating system do you use?

8. Do you use any open source software?

9. Are you planning to migrate to Windows7?

10. Do you use any bespoke curriculum applications?

11. How often do you refresh your ICT hardware?

12. What is your budget for ICT?

13. How many ICT partners do you have?

14. Do you have a written ICT strategy? Please provide a copy, if available.

 

 

Yours,

Tom Eliott

 

It was sent to our admin@... account and to me smells of phishing, or marketing at least... are we obliged to respond?

and, has anyone else had the same request?

[Mako]

Please see: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/behind-red-door/56886-freedom-information-act-request-equipment.html

[BatchFile]

Please see: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/behind-red-door/56886-freedom-information-act-request-equipment.html

 

Yeah, just found that - I did search using the search box first but it didn't appear

[localzuk]

Short answer, after that long discussion - yes you are obliged to answer, but it is advisable to attach a 'no reproduction' copyright notice to your response.

[Guest TheLibrarian]

And advise the person making the request that there will be an administrative charge for gathering the information.

[localzuk]

And advise the person making the request that there will be an administrative charge for gathering the information.

 

You can only charge for genuine costs - photocopying etc... and not for your time.

[Dos_Box]

Have these kind of data gathering ploys by companies hiding behind FOI been going on long does anyone know?

[Jeremy69]

You can only charge for genuine costs - photocopying etc... and not for your time.

 

"An authority can take into account the costs attributable to the time that persons (both the authority’s staff and external contractors) are expected to spend on these activities. Such costs are calculated at £25 per hour per person for all authorities regardless of the actual cost or rate of pay,"

 

This comes from advice issued by the ICO in June 2009 and is used in respect of charging and determining whther the cost would exceed £450 in which case the request maybe refused.

[ricki]

What about man hours. Your employer is paying you to do a job and not collect information for someone else. The money should be given to the employer.

 

Richard

[localzuk]

"An authority can take into account the costs attributable to the time that persons (both the authority’s staff and external contractors) are expected to spend on these activities. Such costs are calculated at £25 per hour per person for all authorities regardless of the actual cost or rate of pay,"

 

This comes from advice issued by the ICO in June 2009 and is used in respect of charging and determining whther the cost would exceed £450 in which case the request maybe refused.

 

Ah, I was misinformed.

 

Direct from the ICO site:

 

2.3.2 The Regulations set out what may be taken into account when public authorities are estimating whether the appropriate limit has been exceeded. The costs are limited to those that an authority reasonably expects to incur in:

 

determining whether it holds the information requested,

locating the information or documents containing the information,

retrieving such information or documents, and

extracting the information from the document containing it (including editing or redacting information [Endnote 4]).

 

Also take into account that your LEA may already have a policy in place regarding the charges which you can charge, so it may be worth asking them. Also, your school should already have an appointed/trained person who deals with these queries...

[elsiegee40]

From what I've learned recently Academies are exempted from FOI requests as they are classified as independent schools.

 

Independent (private) schools are exempt like businesses. It is only LA schools, government and local government departments that have to respond.

[srochford]

From what I've learned recently Academies are exempted from FOI requests as they are classified as independent schools.

 

 

That's interesting and, possibly, disturbing.

 

Given that the new academies are funded using public money, I think we have a right to know what they're doing with that money. That might be trivial stuff like how many whiteboards they have but it could be more serious stuff (what admissions policies do they have, for example)

[alan-d]

The same guy requesting info at opposite ends of the country?

 

You are within your rights to ask for a contact Postal address before replying.

Edited June 16, 2010 by alan-d

[joe90bass]

Have these kind of data gathering ploys by companies hiding behind FOI been going on long does anyone know?

 

Judging by the posts on here it seems to be a recent thing, it's a bit sneaky of them if you ask me though! As posted in another thread, the one we had blatantly linked to a page where they were selling the information on to companies, albeit aggregated rather than as information attributable to individual schools -and there lies their get out clause..........

[powdarrmonkey]

You are within your rights to ask for a contact Postal address before replying.

 

No you are not. You must treat a request by email the same as a request by letter, taking the source address to be the return address if necessary.

20080806100741260.pdf

Edited June 16, 2010 by powdarrmonkey

[jimmy_2k]

Its not from someone offering to outsource your IT is it?

[Soulfish]

"An authority can take into account the costs attributable to the time that persons (both the authority’s staff and external contractors) are expected to spend on these activities. Such costs are calculated at £25 per hour per person for all authorities regardless of the actual cost or rate of pay,"

 

This comes from advice issued by the ICO in June 2009 and is used in respect of charging and determining whther the cost would exceed £450 in which case the request maybe refused.

 

Do remember that the £450 appropriate limit (Guide to fees - Ministry of Justice) isn't to be charged back to the requester. For requests that cost less then this limit (factoring in appropriate time to find/collate the information etc) you can charge for disbursements (such as photocopying and postage) but only at reasonable rates.

 

If you calculate the cost to be greater than the appropriate limit then you should inform the requester how much you believe the FOI request would cost to fulfill.

[alan-d]

No you are not. You must treat a request by email the same as a request by letter, taking the source address to be the return address if necessary.

 

Read the statement again 'You are within your rights to ask for a contact Postal address before replying.'

 

You are assuming that because the request came in electronic format that you have to reply in the same format. You don't, you can give the information in any format that you see fit. If the requester insists on electronic format then he should be made aware of the additional costs etc.

[Dos_Box]

No you are not. You must treat a request by email the same as a request by letter, taking the source address to be the return address if necessary.

 

In that case, how does the school know that the person requesting the information is a UK citizan? Especially when all they give is a Gmail\Hotmail address, which I suspect is so the school does not get to identify the company involved? And has anyone reported these requests to the Information Commissioner office?

[localzuk]

In that case, how does the school know that the person requesting the information is a UK citizan? Especially when all they give is a Gmail\Hotmail address, which I suspect is so the school does not get to identify the company involved? And has anyone reported these requests to the Information Commissioner office?

 

They don't have to be a UK citizen (it isn't mentioned in the law AFAIK).

[BatchFile]

Well, I passed it to the Head (via his PA) along with the correct answers and he said to send them, so she (his PA) did. All I gave were one word or numerical answers - I don't think they'll be much use to anyone especially as our (former estate agent) receptionist filters virtually all sales calls for me anyway

 

The last two questions I answered with "Unable to respond - Question too vague" as it depends on what you classify as an "ICT Partner" and an "ICT Strategy" and I wasn't about to go into a lengthy explaination of our arrangements, particularly when the guidelines for a FOI request state to word your questions carefully.

Edited June 17, 2010 by BatchFile

[ICT_GUY]

Police complaints body gets a kicking for FOI law-breaking

[notlob]

I've just had the following email passed to me:

 

Received an identical email from the same sender. Shortly after acknowledging the request I started to receive marketing emails and phone calls from an IT company. Too much of a coincidence and an abuse of our FoI obligations as far as I'm concerned.

 

On a positive note our Council's FoI team was extremely helpful and I would recommend getting help to anyone who finds themselves subjected to similar trawling activities.

[witch]

Too much of a coincidence and an abuse of our FoI obligations as far as I'm concerned.

 

On a positive note our Council's FoI team was extremely helpful and I would recommend getting help to anyone who finds themselves subjected to similar trawling activities.

 

You still have to complete FOI's though. It is annoying, but it took a long time to get a FOI act in this country and it does mean that a lot of things are now more transparent than they were. There will always be instances where things don't work quite how they were meant to but on the whole the FOI is a good thing. The questions can be answered very generally and almost all of it is info that someone could get from any child going to that school.

[TechMonkey]

If you added the legal boiler plate to the end of your reply then I would request where they go your information from and imply that they have gotten your details in a dodgy way, the company may take note. Also send an email back to the address you sent the request to stating you have a suspicion the information supplied has been used for commercial gain, you are investigating and will be passing the information on to the appropriate authorities. Hopefully will make them think. Though doubt there is a lot you can do. Maybe a DPA jobby.