The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) has offered to train the staff of public sector Agencies in the fundamental aspects of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws.
The OIC has announced its FOI Fundamentals Series, which is an online training project specifically aimed at Public Servants.
The project consists of eight online modules directed at State and Local Government officers dealing with FOI in their Agencies.
“The material covered throughout the series includes that from the FOI Coordinators Workshop, previously offered in-house at the OIC’s premises,” the OIC said.
“Online training modules involving topics previously covered in our FOI Decision Writing workshops are in development.”
The OIC said briefings and short in-house training sessions for Agencies as well as community groups could be available on request.
“Our training is provided free of charge,” it said.
As background, the OIC said FOI gave the public a right to access Government documents, subject to some limitations.
“In Western Australia, under the Freedom of Information Act 1992 the right applies to documents held by most State Government Agencies (such as Departments, public hospitals, public universities and State Government authorities), Ministers and Local Government,” the OIC said.
“Documents accessible under the FOI Act include paper records, plans and drawings, photographs, tape recordings, films, videotapes or information stored in a computerised form.”
It said anyone could apply to have personal information about themselves in Government documents amended if that information was inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading.
Enquiries about the training should be directed to the OIC at (08) 6551 7888 or online at [email protected].
