Information Resilience and Transparency
Rm 2.87 Sessions House County Road
Please ask for: Kirsty-Leigh
Maidstone Kent ME14 1XQ
Robertson
FOI Reference: 2539835
Phone: +443000418301
Email:
xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxxxxxx.xxx
Date: 19 July 2018
Dear Mr Parsons
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) 2000, relating to Freedom of Information. I am pleased to provide the response
below:
It may help if I first explain how Information Governance is managed at Kent County
Council.
The Information Resilience & Transparency Team is responsible for ensuring that KCC
complies with the legislation that gives people a right of access to both publicly held
information and their own personal information; including the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, Data Protection legislation including GDPR, the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 and the Re Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.
These responsibilities include but are not limited to:-
•
KCC’s Data Protection registration and notification
•
Freedom of Information Publication Scheme & Asset Register
•
Liaison with the Information Commissioner’s Office
•
Provision of assistance, guidance and training to officers and Members on all
aspects of Information Governance such as Records Management, Information
Security and Privacy Impact Assessments.
•
Maintenance of KCC’s Record Retention Schedule
•
Investigation of alleged Data Protection breaches in accordance with the
Information Security Incident Protocol.
•
Maintenance of the Information Security Incident Log
•
Safeguarding checks (social service background checks on people working with
children) for CAFCASS, OFSTED, independent fostering agencies, other local
authorities and other third party organisations
•
Management and coordination of requests for information.
To answer your specific questions, we have approximately 2 FTE managing FOI/EIR
requests out of our team of 15 (equivalent to 14 FTE). The cost of running the whole
team in 2017/2018 was £430,362. We cannot break down what costs were specifically
attributable to dealing with FOI requests.
With effect from 1st January 2018, we have used iCasework to manage requests for
information and this has adversely impacted on our ability to report to the level of detail
in 2018 that we have in previous years.
We routinely publish performance statistics, including a disclosure log, on our website
and these are updated quarterly, although focussing on GDPR preparations have
delayed the last scheduled update.
http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-
council/information-and-data/access-to-information.
Please see the attached for the most recent published disclosure log.
If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied with
legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints process; details can be
found at this link
http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/contact-us/complaints-and-
feedback on our website. Please quote reference 2539835.
If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can appeal to the
Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the Freedom of Information
Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should you wish to pursue this course of
action, are available from the Information Commissioner’s website
http://www.ico.org.uk/concerns.
Yours sincerely
Kirsty-Leigh Robertson
Information Access Officer