Procedure still an issue 15 years after FOI law passed

(CNS): As Cayman marks Right To Know Day, Ombudsman Sharon Roulestone has said that last year, the number of freedom of information requests was above pre-pandemic levels after 452 were made to the government, the most in one year since 2018. As the public continues to make use of the law, managers are releasing more information, and almost 68% of FOI applicants received most of what they asked for within 30 days. However, the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) is still dealing with procedural problems.

Almost 7,500 requests have been made since the important legislation was rolled out almost 15 years ago.

According to the annual report and statistics released for RTK day, the ombudsman had its own challenges last year with a significant ‘brain drain’ from the office. But it nevertheless handled 27 appeals in addition to all of the other work the office now deals with, including the very busy data protection department under the FOI sister legislation, as well as both police and public service complaints and whistleblowers.

While the information team dealt with 19 FOI appeals informally, eight went through to a formal binding decision. Around one-third of requests are still being refused, but the ombudsman has said that many of the issues last year related to procedure rather than a refusal to release all the relevant records.

“Many of the appeals formally decided in 2022 related to matters not directly involving the disclosure of information, such as questions around the reasonableness of searches for responsive records, whether public authorities’ decisions had been sufficiently documented, and the limits of the application of the FOI Act,” the annual report states.

Over the course of 2022, the ombudsman made some diverse decisions, ranging from the release of ground handling agreements of the Cayman Islands Airports Authority to whether or not the Police Welfare Committee is a public authority for the presupposes of the law.

As well as the appeals, the information team handled 45 inquiries from both members of the public and government officials, including information managers with questions about the FOI Act.

The greatest number of requests are still being made to the police, the health services and WORC, with planning and the port authority rounding out the top five entities dealing with the most record requests.

“Although there are some FOIA appeals made to our office which involve drawn-out responses and, in some cases, took more than a year for the entities to fully respond to requests, the numbers show that is not the case for the vast majority of FOIA requests made to government,” Roulstone said. “The ombudsman’s office just concluded our 100th FOIA formal hearing decision earlier this month. It’s great to see the public’s interest and use of this legislation has persisted through our fifteenth year of marking the Right to Know.”

But 2022 appears to have been a very tough year for the ombudsman’s team. Writing in the annual report, Roulstone described it as a “reset year” after she joined the office as the Ombudsman in March of 2022 and found a number of problems that had to be addressed, not least the hardships created by an “unprecedented knowledge-drain” following the pandemic.

But this created an opportunity to take stock of the office and determine whether, as is, it could sustain future growth, she said.

“There was a clear indication that the office was gaining public trust by the increased number of enquiries received in 2022,” Roulstone said, but the vacancies cast light on the stagnation-effect of the organisational structure and succession planning as well as on the ability of the OMB to take on more work.

“The problem in the structure was that staff were ‘pigeon-holed’ into each of the five respective areas of law governing the office, gaining experience only in that specific area and making the sharing of knowledge next to impossible,” she explained. “With the office down to almost half its staff complement, there was limited or no ability for staff in different practice areas to help each other.”

The solution was to provide cross-training within the respective divisions, creating opportunities for staff and improving continuity of operations and succession planning, something that had not been done during the life of the office, Roulstone said.

The “reset” also provided an opportunity for a review of policy and procedures, most of which were outdated or still in draft form. “The year brought steep learning curves to most staff, but it required all of us to adapt to new processes, new staff and what I hope is a new beginning to a better way of working, the ombudsman said.

“Change in any organisation is a challenging prospect and is not always met with enthusiasm or support. However, our staff is to be commended for rising to the challenge, being open to change and embracing the opportunities whilst still managing fuller workloads with less resources than the year prior and doing it all with minimal service gaps in our deliverables,” she added.

To appeal FOI decisions to the OMB, call 946-6283 or email info@ombudsman.ky.

See the FOI statistical report here and the full annual report for 2022 here.