Survey says public sector not ready for Freedom of Information

Four out of five public sector organisations will not be ready to meet the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act deadline at the start of next year, says a survey.

But experts working closely on the implementation of the Act say the figures are not representative and 'unhelpful'.

To comply with the Act, passed in 2000, all public sector organisations must be able to supply any information requested of them from 1 January 2005. Only details that could jeopardise national security will be exempt from the rule.

Out of a sample of 100 senior public sector IT executives, 78 said their organisation was not ready for the deadline.

But experts say the survey is not representative and the majority of public sector bodies are on track.

'I think most public sector bodies will be ready with minimal terms of compliance by the deadline,' said Christine Gifford, director of consultancy Public Partners and member of the Lord Chancellor's advisory group on implementation of FoI legislation.

'It is not helpful to survey 100 senior IT specialists and somehow move from that to saying 78 per cent of the public sector not ready.

'There are over 100,000 public sector bodies liable for FoI and this is an extremely small sample,' she said.

The biggest challenge faced by the public sector is finding the resources, says Gifford.

'The problem is there are very few resources available for FoI implementation - it is part of the modernising government agenda so it's difficult to split out the resources just for FoI,' she said.

'But the important thing is people are working towards implementation, they know what the cultural change is going to be and they trying to put the process change in place.

'There is no doubt that this is a major challenge, but we need to help and support public authorities rather than scaring them off with this kind of survey,' she said.

The survey was conducted by independent researchers Vanson on behalf of management consultancy Partners for Change.

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