Courses take place in:

London, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds and Belfast

Since the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came fully into force in 2005 we have experienced a fundamental change in the relationship between UK government and its citizens as government information has become more publicly accessible. Greater transparency is also a key policy of the Coalition Government, and in light of the deficit reduction programme there is an ever increasing public interest in how public money is spent. This has led to the publication of a wide range of public sector datasets and proposals to expand the Freedom of Information Act through the Protection of Freedoms Bill. Information Officers are central to these developments and need to be fully aware of the Act and the impact of future changes to it.

This training session is designed to help those who are on the receiving end of requests for information and those who advise and assist them. The topics covered in this introductory level session include:

• an overview of the Freedom of Information Act, its structure and core provisions
• publication schemes - the new Model Publication Scheme 2009
• handling requests including administrative exemptions and refusal notices
• an overview of the Exemptions and the public interest test
• key decisions from the Information Commissioner and the Information Tribunal
• understanding the Fees regime
• how to handle complaints
• inter-relationship with the Data Protection Act, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005

The morning consists of instruction on the legal provisions, with the afternoon featuring practical exercises and further instruction.

There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion and delegates are encouraged to bring queries and questions to the session, which will be fully interactive.

A discount is available for delegates booking both FOI Level 1 and FOI Level 2 – see below.