FOI Request questions.
Discussion
First question may be a bit silly, but can a request be done anonymously?
I ask because the information wanted from this particular public sector organisation involves the actions of someone Known to the applicant.
Here is the background. I have been asked by a family friend for advice .
She is alleging some sort of sexism in a recruitment policy. Not the usual sexism, that is male biased, but a particular department in this public body that appears to hire just girls, and also a few women related to senior managers in the organisation.
One example she cites is a recent process where 3 people were short listed. Two men, very qualified for the role, with identical skill sets, which would have made them perfect for the job.
They failed and the reason given was that when presented with a scenario they did not mention in ther response actioning an internal prodedure. They have never worked in the organisation, and would have had no way of knowing about this procedure.
The successful applicant was a woman, with less experience who had once worked for the organisation and whose husband is a senior executive in the organisation but at another site.
The above is the most recent examples but there are others where women have been hired over men in crcumstances where they perhaps were not qualified for the post.
The manager responsible likes to surround himself with femal staff which he nick names his "Hareem"
My friend has worked there for 20 plus years in a senior but non management capacity. Being a public body it has a lot of anti discrimination rules but when a job comes up, black or Asian candidates of either sex plus men never seem to get the job.
She wants to ask questions in an FOI enquiry because this is a very big public body and she hopes the request may put a spotlight on this guy's behaviour in a way that it will be hard to cover up.
Ie, no keeping this internal, creating a situation where someone outside the organisation is flagging it up.
I know very little about FOI requests.
Can this be done without her name being mentioned?
The info she wants.
How many vacancies in the dept since say 2004? The manager has been there 5 years so that would provide a comparison.
How many internal and external?
How many of either posts were filled by external candidates?
How many posts were filled by former returning employees?
How many successful candidates declared in the space on the application form that they had a relative in the organisation? How many of those got jobs?
How many men/women were short listed?
How many men/women were successful?
The same questions based on candidates who delaired a non-white ethnicity. The same for Disabled applicants.
Not quite sure what she wants to do with the info.
Is the above possible?
Advice appreciated.
I ask because the information wanted from this particular public sector organisation involves the actions of someone Known to the applicant.
Here is the background. I have been asked by a family friend for advice .
She is alleging some sort of sexism in a recruitment policy. Not the usual sexism, that is male biased, but a particular department in this public body that appears to hire just girls, and also a few women related to senior managers in the organisation.
One example she cites is a recent process where 3 people were short listed. Two men, very qualified for the role, with identical skill sets, which would have made them perfect for the job.
They failed and the reason given was that when presented with a scenario they did not mention in ther response actioning an internal prodedure. They have never worked in the organisation, and would have had no way of knowing about this procedure.
The successful applicant was a woman, with less experience who had once worked for the organisation and whose husband is a senior executive in the organisation but at another site.
The above is the most recent examples but there are others where women have been hired over men in crcumstances where they perhaps were not qualified for the post.
The manager responsible likes to surround himself with femal staff which he nick names his "Hareem"
My friend has worked there for 20 plus years in a senior but non management capacity. Being a public body it has a lot of anti discrimination rules but when a job comes up, black or Asian candidates of either sex plus men never seem to get the job.
She wants to ask questions in an FOI enquiry because this is a very big public body and she hopes the request may put a spotlight on this guy's behaviour in a way that it will be hard to cover up.
Ie, no keeping this internal, creating a situation where someone outside the organisation is flagging it up.
I know very little about FOI requests.
Can this be done without her name being mentioned?
The info she wants.
How many vacancies in the dept since say 2004? The manager has been there 5 years so that would provide a comparison.
How many internal and external?
How many of either posts were filled by external candidates?
How many posts were filled by former returning employees?
How many successful candidates declared in the space on the application form that they had a relative in the organisation? How many of those got jobs?
How many men/women were short listed?
How many men/women were successful?
The same questions based on candidates who delaired a non-white ethnicity. The same for Disabled applicants.
Not quite sure what she wants to do with the info.
Is the above possible?
Advice appreciated.
Edited by wildcat45 on Sunday 29th June 19:24
Its really not that hard to blag it with someone elses name
You might find the amoutn of informatio nyou want will cost them too much tiem to gather so they will refuse it so I would initally limit the scope to obvious information they will record and be easily able to look up
some of the info you want would involve a lot of work looking through past application forms etc
You might find the amoutn of informatio nyou want will cost them too much tiem to gather so they will refuse it so I would initally limit the scope to obvious information they will record and be easily able to look up
some of the info you want would involve a lot of work looking through past application forms etc
Mojooo said:
Its really not that hard to blag it with someone elses name
You might find the amoutn of informatio nyou want will cost them too much tiem to gather so they will refuse it so I would initally limit the scope to obvious information they will record and be easily able to look up
some of the info you want would involve a lot of work looking through past application forms etc
I agree. Many of those would blow through the (£600?) limit, assuming that the paperwork has been kept - would unsuccessful applications from 2004, for example, even be required to be kept?...You might find the amoutn of informatio nyou want will cost them too much tiem to gather so they will refuse it so I would initally limit the scope to obvious information they will record and be easily able to look up
some of the info you want would involve a lot of work looking through past application forms etc
Finding 9 years of records, collating and responding would not be a casual task. Looks like a good chunk of time to collate and respond, even for the most efficient company.
I deal with FoIs a fair bit.
Requesters who know the law say "if this query will take over 18 hours, please advise how my query can be modified to keep under this" which the law requires public bodies to do.
But 9 times out of 10 people ask the wrong question anyway (i.e. a slightly different question would have been far more revealing).
Ian
Requesters who know the law say "if this query will take over 18 hours, please advise how my query can be modified to keep under this" which the law requires public bodies to do.
But 9 times out of 10 people ask the wrong question anyway (i.e. a slightly different question would have been far more revealing).
Ian
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff