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Culture, learning and assurance

This module covers how you meet the requirements of FOIA, and particularly section 14(1), in terms of your culture of openness and transparency. It also covers the review of practices, training and lessons learned, and allows you to consider how monitoring helps improve compliance.

Good

  • You have a culture of openness and transparency, with excellent awareness of your obligations under FOIA across the organisation.
  • You regularly review section 14 training requirements and keep staff up-to-date with changes to ICO guidance, relevant Decision Notices and Tribunal cases.
  • You regularly monitor how section 14(1) is applied, to ensure evidence-based decisions.
  • You usually identify and share lessons to be learned, assisting in the appropriate and objective use of section 14(1).

Adequate

  • You try to have a culture of openness and transparency, with good awareness of your obligations under FOIA across the organisation.
  • You sometimes review section 14 training requirements and keep staff up-to-date with changes to ICO guidance.
  • You sometimes monitor how section 14(1) is applied.
  • You sometimes identify and share lessons to be learned from section 14(1) responses.

Unsatisfactory

  • You do not have a culture of openness and transparency, and awareness of your obligations under FOIA across the organisation is low.
  • You rarely review section 14 training requirements or keep staff up-to-date with changes to ICO guidance.
  • You rarely monitor how section 14(1) is applied.
  • You rarely identify or share lessons to be learned around the handling of section 14(1) refusals.
1. The way you emphasise the importance of complying with information requests to your staff across the organisation is… (optional)
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You should promote awareness of FOIA internally to all staff for compliance and reputational reasons.

2. Your approach to section 14(1) training and maintaining knowledge is… (optional)
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Staff need to be equipped to make difficult decisions to ensure that section 14(1) is not over- or under-used. You should keep training, policies and procedures up-to-date, and ensure all relevant staff have access to them. You should also regularly check ICO decision notices which consider section 14(1), since this may inform your handling of future cases.

3. Your monitoring of the use of section 14(1), to help improve its application, is… (optional)
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Monitoring your use of section 14(1), and when it's been upheld by the ICO, should help you follow the correct approach and apply it confidently going forward. You shouldn't apply it as a blanket approach to requesters who have previously made vexatious requests, but neither should you under-use it. Regular monitoring should help you to apply section 14(1) appropriately and on the basis of evidence.

4. The way you learn from your previous handling of requests, in relation to section 14(1), is… (optional)
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Reflecting on your previous handing of requests where section 14(1) was, or could have been, applied, should help you to assess when to apply it appropriately and objectively, and to cite it confidently in future.