Our regional offices
Through regional offices we are gaining a better understanding of the needs of the devolved administrations and our regional stakeholders
Scotland
The work of the ICO’s Scotland office is largely focused on data protection, as most public authorities operating in Scotland are subject to separate Scottish freedom of information legislation. The period 2006/07 was the first full year in post for Ken Macdonald, the Assistant Commissioner for Scotland, and substantial effort was put towards the establishment of good working relationships with key stakeholders and promoting good data protection practice within organisations in all sectors.
The Scottish Parliament has legislative competence in a wide range of areas concerning personal privacy and a series of seminars was held in May and June which raised awareness of data protection to the billing and clerking teams at the Parliament. Submissions have been made to a range of Parliamentary consultations on issues such as DNA retention, the naming of child sex offenders and pre-employment disclosure checks to protect vulnerable groups. Our views were taken into account in the subsequent recommendations and the adopted legislation.
The approach to information sharing in the public sector in Scotland is being led by the Scottish
Executive and co-ordinated through a National Data Sharing Forum which meets twice-yearly. The
forum members include representatives from local authorities, health boards and other agencies; the
ICO is represented at it by the Assistant Commissioner who attends with observer status. The
Executive is also developing policies relating to the sharing of child protection and the ICO is working
closely with it on the production of an associated Code of Practice.
The Scotland office continues to attend a number of sector-specific data protection groups, including ACPOS (police) and SOLAR (local government), where issues of mutual concern can be discussed and good practice promoted. In addition, over the past year, we delivered presentations at over 20 seminars and conferences, allowing us to pass our key messages to a wider audience.
Wales
The Wales office is headed by Assistant Commissioner Anne Jones. Freedom of information
casework relating to Welsh public authorities forms much of the work undertaken by the office,
as does the provision of advice on data protection and freedom of information issues. Threequarters
of all enquiries received relate to data protection, and slightly more enquiries were
received from members of the public than from organisations.
The Wales office has continued its programme of raising awareness of information rights during the year, and has had input to several initiatives, including the Welsh Assembly’s ‘Making the Connections’ strategy, which focuses on citizen-centred public sector services. Other significant involvement has been with ‘Informing Healthcare’, the Welsh electronic health records programme, WASPI (the Wales Accord on the Sharing of Personal Information), and umbrella bodies representing local and town councils. In total, Wales office staff have spoken at almost 50 conferences, seminars and meetings with local stakeholders over the year.
One of the main events of the year was the move to new premises in Cardiff Bay in mid-November. The new office represents a much improved resource, and is already providing new opportunities to work with local organizations and businesses. A reception was held just before Christmas to mark the event, which local stakeholders attended.
The new Government of Wales Act 2006 was implemented in May this year and will bring significant changes to the way the region is governed. It will also impact on the work of the Welsh regional office in that increasing levels of Wales-only legislation will require more partnership working with the Welsh Assembly Government.
The office continues to translate key guidance into the Welsh language in accordance with the requirements of the newly approved Welsh Language Scheme, with further implementation planned for the coming year.
Northern Ireland
The Northern Ireland regional office is headed by Assistant Commissioner Marie Anderson. Freedom of information casework relating to Northern Ireland public authorities forms much of the work undertaken by the office, as does also the provision of advice on information rights generally. In 2006/07 we dealt with 835 enquiries, with nearly two-thirds relating to data protection issues. Most of our enquiries came from the public, although we also provide advice and guidance to public authorities, the private sector and other groups.
We continued to promote information rights, and spoke at more than 60 events. In October 2006, the Northern Ireland regional office presented a review of our first fully operational year at a well attended stakeholder event in the Northern Ireland Assembly. We also launched much needed guidance for Northern Ireland public authorities on equality monitoring. In February 2007 we launched the ICO’s “Personal information toolkit” in Northern Ireland to coincide with European Data Protection Day. Marie Anderson appeared on local radio to discuss data protection and identity theft, which led to an increase in enquiries and requests for the Personal information toolkit.
The Northern Ireland regional office continued to investigate Freedom of information complaints and we also saw our first challenge in the Information Tribunal, when Derry City Council appealed against a decision notice. The Commissioner had ordered disclosure of a contract between Derry City Airport and low cost airline, Ryanair. The Tribunal’s ruling was especially significant because it clarified the application of the exemption for information provided in confidence in the context of public sector contracts. The office continues to deal with the more complex and politically sensitive cases arising locally. An example of this is the detailed investigation into a request for information about the Northern Bank robbery in December 2005. Some of this information was released as a result of the intervention of the Commissioner and he found that the public authority, the Northern Ireland Office, had properly withheld the more sensitive documents.
