We have been operating under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (The Act) for a few years now. During that time we have released a variety of records and most have caused no concern to staff, however, some records were very problematic. Below are some record keeping tips to help you avoid similar problems. Please review them and make changes in your office practices where you see fit.
1. Create records with access in mind
Staff should create records with the expectation that they could be the subject of an access request. Where feasible, organize records at the time of creation in ways that facilitate access.
Legal advice and policy recommendations are examples of items that can be withheld at the discretion of a senior manager. It's important for staff to ensure they clearly identify such items in their correspondence, minutes of meetings, etc. If you are giving advice or recommendations, say so in the record. On the other hand, background discussions, staff opinions (not legal opinions) and other fact reporting that lead up to the policy recommendation are generally releasable. Our tip: Always create records assuming someone will ask to see them.
2. Avoid quoting another person
As a general rule staff should not be recording conversations by quoting those persons who made the comments. Quotations and the name of the person quoted are released under The Act unless they meet one of its specific exceptions.
For example, minutes of meetings should not record every discussion as verbatim. In most cases a concise and objective statement explaining the discussion topic and the decision reached is more than adequate. Don't quote people unless they want their point "on the record" or you need it to be on the record.
There will be times when staff should record someone's exact words. Some examples are cases of harassment, legal opinions and personnel issues like employee discipline. Our tip is simple: Don't collect (i.e. record) information you don't need.
3. Don't record subjective comments
Staff should not be recording unsubstantiated subjective evaluations in university records. This is especially true where comments or opinions are about another individual. Under the Act, these comments are considered to be the personal information of the individual they are about and, therefore, that individual has a right of access to them.
For example, a comment on file saying, "I'd like to get my hands on him" could probably be re-phrased, without losing the meaning, to: "I'd like to locate him". Remember our tip: Be objective. Don't write it down unless you are prepared to have it read.
4. Avoid putting transitory notes on file
The Act does not differentiate between an official file and an unofficial file. Any record in the university's custody or control is accessible under The Act, official or otherwise. For example, staff should not put those hastily scribbled notes from a telephone conversation on file until they have taken the time to re-write them removing all subjective comments or unneeded quotations. Further, once they've re-written the notes into the formal file staff should promptly destroy the transitory notes (scribbles) which are no longer needed. Our tip here: Keep only the final version of your notes. Always destroy your transitory notes.
5. Manage your E-Mails
E-mail messages are university records and should be classified and converted to the storage medium most suitable for retention. Transitory e-mail messages may be deleted without conversion to another medium.
E-Mails are accessible under The Act. To lessen the impact of FOI requests for e-mails it's best to manage them as you create them or receive them. Any e-mail which should be filed according to your office classification requirements (i.e. have value, are not transitory in nature) should be printed out, filed as paper and deleted from the e-mail system. Transitory e-mails should be deleted when read or sent.
Where staff want to retain an e-mail on the system for office business it should still be printed to a hard copy file where it's not transitory in nature. Remember: E-mail messages are records and accessible under FOI. Manage them like any other record.
6. Perform regular records management
Conduct an inventory of your office files annually.
Staff should prepare detailed file lists of records sent to storage in the University Records Centre (URC). Detailed lists will make it easier to locate those records later. Official Records Retention Schedule and Disposal Authorities (RRSDA) prepared by the Archives and Records Management Department will help staff manage office files in a timely fashion and prove that they were retained or destroyed, especially after staff changes.
The Act is retroactive so it covers records created before The Act was law, at a time when staff had no idea the information would ever be released. Remember our tip: Embarrassment is not an exception.
7. Treat confidential material accordingly
Establish security standards to ensure that records containing information requiring protection are clearly marked CONFIDENTIAL and treated accordingly. Although a CONFIDENTIAL marking doesn't mean a record won't be released under the Act it does provide strong evidence when we are defending why we wouldn't release a document. A word of warning though: don't automatically stamp every record as "confidential" as this practice can work against you and your clients by lessening the defense of a "confidential" stamp when it is really needed.
I hope you find these ideas useful and practical. In closing, please consider one final tip: By handling requests for information quickly, informally and in the spirit of openness you may be able to avoid formal FOI requests which are time consuming and costly.
Note: This tip sheet is an edited version of one written by Merv Scott, Manager, Information and Privacy,
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It is reproduced and used by SFU with the author's permission.