Notice

BEIS: Freedom of Information action plan, following ICO Practice Recommendations Notice

Published 15 December 2022

ICO Recommendation 1

In relation to part 4 of the code, BEIS should ensure that requests for information are responded to in a timely manner, including when it is necessary to consult with Special Advisors or Ministers.

Action	Date to complete	Completed
A communication has been sent to all BEIS Senior Civil Servants from the Chief Operating officer emphasising the importance of meeting FOI Statutory deadlines.	23 September 2022	Yes
Weekly FOI performance tables are sent to all Senior Civil Servants which includes details of open FOIs and alerts SCS to those approaching or at risk of missing statutory deadlines	26 September 2022	Yes
Automated reminders remind officials drafting responses of outstanding actions at regular intervals.	26 September 2022	Yes

ICO Recommendation 2

The Commissioner recommends that BEIS should consider using the Commissioner’s FOI self-assessment toolkit to improve its timeliness compliance.

Action	Date to complete	Completed
BEIS has completed the timeliness models in the ICO’s self-assessment toolkit using our latest Q2 2022 statistics. This rated BEIS performance as unsatisfactory in all 3 areas. The suggested actions are already being addressed.	16 September 2022	Yes

ICO Recommendation 3

BEIS should create an action plan, incorporating any recovery plan already in development, with appropriate processes put into place to ensure 89% timeliness is achieved by the end of December 2022. This action plan should be supported by a ‘lessons learned’ exercise, which examines the root cause of delays form allocation through to clearance at different stages, with mitigations for any recurring problems addressed specifically in the plan.

Action	Date to complete	Completed
This is ongoing. This action plan has been produced and will be revised regularly to assess progress. Full lessons learned exercise and progress to 89% timeliness will be reported to the Information Commissioner at the end of December 2022.	31 December 2022	No

ICO Recommendation 4

The Commissioner recommends that BEIS’s request handling procedures include provision for when a response is late or is likely to be late at any stage of the internal processes, it is clear when and to who to escalate, who is responsible for taking action, the action they will need to take, and by when.

Action	Date to complete	Completed
In addition to the weekly performance tables for SCS and the automated reminders to drafters, the FOI team will escalate any FOIs not completed within 10 working days to the team’s Director.	30 September 2022	Yes

ICO Recommendation 5

The Commissioner further recommends that the action plan is published on BEIS’ website for full transparency about the improvements it is making.

Action	Date to complete	Completed
BEIS Action Plan published on www.Gov.uk	11 November 2022	Yes

ICO Recommendation 6

The Commissioner also recommends an action to increase BEIS’ teams and policy areas’ understanding and engagement with the role of the FOI professionals. In particular, this should include understanding and accepting BEIS’ obligations under FOIA.

Action	Date to complete	Completed
The Chief Operating Officer has written to all SCS reminding them of their obligations under FOIA and weekly stats on outstanding FOIs are going to all SCS.	26 September 2022	Yes
FOI Practitioners are attending policy team meetings and providing FOI training sessions to raise awareness of the FOIA and the department’s obligations under the Act.	Continuous process	No
The Department will produce an article to be published on our internal communication site, BOB, about FOI and the role of FOI professionals	30 January 2023	No

ICO Recommendation 7

BEIS should write to the Commissioner by the end of December 2022 to confirm that it has complied with its recommendations and how it has achieved this.

Action	Date to complete	Completed
BEIS will provide a full report to the ICO by the end of December 2022.	31 December 2022	No

In addition to the ICO’s recommendations BEIS has simplified FOI processes and ensured that any reputational risks associated with any release of information is considered at an early stage to prevent delays at the end of the process.