From the Executive Director

Did someone get the number of the bus....?

For a number of our clients, the effects of working from home during 2020 has created some difficult challenges.  Equally, it has also resulted in some interesting and important learnings about what work could look like moving forward.  

Some of our clients have been hit really hard, particularly in the freedom of information area, and especially where agencies hold hard copy records.  How do you deal with an FOI request for hard copy documents when you are not allowed into your office?  With quite some difficulty would appear to be the answer.  This fact alone caused a number of agencies to rely on the "unreasonable diversion" request provisions to either decline or re-negotiate requests to only seek electronically stored information which can be searched for and dealt with remotely.

Anecdotally, a number of our clients reported significant increases in FOI requests being received - potentially because of lockdowns and people having more time on their hands at home to contemplate and make FOI requests.  It will be interesting to see the next financial year's annual report of the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner to see if the increase in requests was officially experienced across government.

In the privacy area, there were also challenges for agencies with staff working from home and needing to ensure proper work practices were in place to protect personal or health information from inappropriate access, use or disclosure.

Some of our client's have said they would welcome the opportunity to press the "reset" button and do 2020 over again, but without the disruption associated with COVID-19.

Whatever your own experience has been, the team at FOI Solutions hopes you are able to have a well-deserved break over the festive and holiday season.  

Please ensure you take some time to re-charge the batteries and freshen up for what will no doubt be an interesting 2020.2 (sorry, 2021) - hey, I am entitled to make corny Dad jokes!

Keep your skills up

If you found it difficult to fit in any of our numerous webinars during 2020, the good news is that we are offering you the chance to catch up on them over the holiday break.  With our last training session on 4 December 2020, there is unlikely to be any further training until February 2021.

Now you can pick and choose from the 16 webinars we conducted on FOI, privacy and other government law areas, each of which were recorded.  You can then view them in your own time and not be bound by the rigidity of the timetable when they were first presented (except the links to the sessions will expire after a reasonable time).

Each session runs for about an hour and it gives you the perfect chance to catch up and not be left behind when it comes to upskilling your knowledge.  You will be able to create a bundle of sessions of most interest to you and reap the rewards of a discount depending on the number of sessions you bundle together.

If you would like a copy of the brochure detailing all of the webinar sessions available and how you can create your own customised training bundle, email us at: marketing@foisolutions.com.au