An Insider's view of the Information Tribunal

The Information Tribunal is the final point of appeal against decisions made by the Information Commissioner on the following types of cases:

• Freedom of Information (FOI)
• Environmental Information Regulations (EIR)
• Data Protection
• Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

Decisions made by the Information Tribunal can be appealed to the High Court, but only on a point of law.

Paul Taylor is a lay member of the Information tribunal.  He also has a full time post as Information Policy Manager for Education Leeds.  Last night I heard him give a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of the Information Tribunal in his talk to the Records Management Society's London Group.

The tribunal hears around 130 cases per year. The vast majority of these are FOI and EIR cases.  Currently it is hearing cases arising from FOI/EIR requests made in late 2005.  The main reason for the backlog is that the Office the Information Commissioner's Office in Wilmslow has insufficient staffing to promptly process the vast volume of appeals against rejected FOI requests.  Some requestors give up their appeal in frustration at the length of time it takes to process the appeal.

The Information Tribunal has a sectretariat (based in Leicester) that arranges services for each hearing.  The tribunals themselves are drawn from a pool of chairs (who are legally qualified) and lay members (practioners who have experience of working with information rights law).  Each tribunal consists of three people:  a chair and two lay members.

At most hearings the person who made the original FOI/EIR request represents themselves.  In contrast both the Information Commissioner (against whose decision the appeal is being brought) and the public authority that is the subject of the request, are represented by experienced Counsel.  Paul felt that despite the imbalance in experience between the requestor and the counsels representing the other parties, requestors often acquitted themselves suprisingly well in front of the tribunal. 

The tribunal is relatively formal in its proceedings.  The room is set out like a courtroom, the three person tribunal sits on a raised platform, and the court is asked to rise when the tribunal members walk into the court.  There is a concern that this formality may be off-putting to requestors representing themselves, and the Tribunal is looking at ways of ensuring it's procedings are as requestor friendly as possible.

Procedings are open to the public to attend.  Occasionally parts of the hearing have to be heard behind closed doors (or example when the public authority is questioned on the actual information that has been requested and that they think is exempt from release under FOI).

The Tribunal has some strong powers: it can ask the Information Commissioner to assess the records management practice of an organisation if it appears that poor records management has affected its ability to meet its Freedom of Information obligations.

Lay membership of the Information Tribunal is a significant time commitment (the time necessary to read all the papers, attend the hearing and input into the decisions). The work is renumerated and expenses are paid.  Most lay members find time from the holiday/flexitime entitlements of their full time jobs.  Once you are appointed a lay member your tenure lasts until the age of 70.

Paul loves being a lay member of the Information tribunal and would recommend any FOI practioner to apply should the Information Tribunal advertise any lay member vacancies.  Being a lay member had broadened his horizons, allowed him to work on high profile cases such as the Iraq Weapons of Mass destruction Case and to contribute to setting precedents in Freedom of Information Case Law.