Tuesday 25 July 2017
Steps have been taken to further strengthen the operational implementation of the States of Guernsey's Code of Practice for Access to Public Information.
Following a review by the Policy & Resources Committee in early 2017 on the effectiveness of the code and how it is being applied, the Committee agreed the following steps to further enhance the effectiveness of the code:
- All Access to Public Information questions and responses will be published on gov.gg
- Work will be carried out to promote awareness of the code across the public service
- Work will be carried out to promote awareness of the code with the general public
- The Chief Information Officer will be tasked with reviewing any decision where an exemption has been used under the code
All 58 API requests and responses since the code was agreed have been published today and can be found at www.gov.gg/information.
A short guidance document has also been produced to set out the States of Guernsey's process for dealing with the publication of reports commissioned by government and requests for information under the code. This is the most up-to-date process for the operational implementation of the code and has been published at www.gov.gg/information.
During the review by P&R it was noted that there was a lack of consistency in how exemptions were being applied across government. As such, it was agreed that going forward the Chief Information Officer would have responsibility for reviewing any decision where an exemption has been applied before the response is finalised.
Colin Vaudin, States of Guernsey Chief Information Officer, said:
'The code's purpose is to establish a consistent standard for the disclosure of public information. The Policy & Resources Committee agreed to these changes - to the administration of the code of practice - as a means to further improve government transparency on information.
'Publishing all requests for information and the responses to them will further enhance transparency, but will also serve to promote the benefits of the code. We are rolling out plans to promote the code both within the public sector and amongst the wider community, and implementing an internal review process when exemptions are applied should ensure a level of consistency across government.'
