Whilst information has always equalled power, the 21st century has seen this theme emerge as one of the most important issues for citizens and their governments. The essential dichotomy between individual and state rights which the Human Rights act sought to clarify crystallises in the proliferation of CCTV cameras in our streets.
Data security is now at the forefront of individuals’ concerns and public bodies as responsible data controllers cannot be complacent about the protections the law affords to citizens.
Public awareness of information rights has never been higher and whilst the Environmental Information Regulations remain the poor relation of access regimes, Freedom of Information requests continue to arrive on our desks with increasing regularity.
The Bevan Brittan information law group is committed to steering our clients through the tensions of the information legislation both practically in terms of disclosure logs and asset lists, retention policies and security software and legally in interpreting the complexities of subject access and third party rights.
As OPSI collates non compliance with the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations and physical space issues push us further down the route of electronic storage solutions, information law issues are ever higher up the agenda.
Some examples of the work we do in this area includes:
- disclosure advice on procurement projects - various public bodies
- information sharing protocols
- dealing with complex requests under the access legislation for public and private sector clients
- subject access requests under DPA
- publication schemes, disclosure logs and asset lists
- advice and training re the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations
- information sharing and disclosure between agencies
- RIPA training and authorisation advice
- monitoring of employee emails and telephone calls
- advice on implications of EIR and correct identification of use of these
- drafting confidentiality clauses for contracts and agreements to ensure FOIA compliance
- consultation of third party information suppliers in accordance with the LCD’s Code of Practice
- compliance with the DEFRA Code on EIR
- advice on FoI/DPA re senior officer compromise agreements
- advice on secure transfer of information via encryption software
- advice on compliance with BIP 0008 code re scanned document storage