Should Full Council be informed about the receipt of a Freedom of Information request?

Question

I was approached by a local resident yesterday who told me that he had submitted a lengthy Freedom of Information (FoI) request a few weeks ago. He confirmed he had received an acknowledgement but nothing else. Under the previous Clerk, any FoI was reported to Council but since the new Clerk has been in office, we haven't been made aware of any such requests.

Answer 1

What does you adopted policy on the matter say in terms of handling any request? That is the critical question. Each Council based on local circumstances (size of council, number of requests) will adopt different approaches. Some will for example only notify at the point a internal review is requested. 

Answer 2

I don't think it's necessary to report it at the time. I usually mention it to the Chairman, then report it to the next meeting under the "This is what you pay me to do" item.

Comments

Agree Dave.  Given that there's a limit to the time allowed for a response and not all councils meet monthly (or don't meet in July/August, for example), the clerk needs to get on with responding and not wait for a meeting to report it.  Adding it to the clerk's report as an information item is appropriate.

Answer 3

I'd suggest councils rarely know the specific details of what a clerk actually does on a day-to-day basis.  That said, there is no reason why important correspondence and events should not form an element of routine information flow between clerk and council.

Answer 4

Would it not be quite simple for an agenda item included in each meeting of correspondence received which lists correspondence received by the clerk. Councillors could then be made aware of any items they deem to be worthy of discussion or action should they arise? This would ensure that openness and transparency is met and everyone is " in the loop" and that nothing is conveniently "lost" in the post.

In this case the FOI is not lost or forgotten ( even clerks make mistakes although many councillors see them as super-human and infalible ) or not acted upon.