Information Rights Officer - 5300216 in Stafford

Overview

Information Rights Officer. Location: ST16 2DH. Duration: 6 Months.

About the Role

• The Information Rights Officer is responsible for supporting and ensuring the council's compliance with statutory access to information requirements and standards.
• This role is the principal contact for specialist knowledge and advice relating to policy, procedure and requests for information under the provision of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and Data Protection Act.
• The role will provide advice and training along with designing and implementing processes to ensure that the Council complies with FOI, EIR and Data Protection Act legislation.
• Key Accountabilities
• Lead and manage requests for information (under FOI and EIR) and transparency data for Staffordshire County Council and partner organisations, ensuring statutory obligations are met.
• Develop and maintain appropriate, up-to-date policies, processes, procedures, and systems to enable Staffordshire County Council to comply with the statutory requirements of FOI, EIR and associated legislation.
• Provide departments and partner organisations with detailed, expert, legally compliant professional advice and interpretation of legislation and policy relating to FOI and EIR.
• Educate and inform internal and external partners/clients of their statutory obligations relating to FOI and EIR by developing training and guidance.
• Liaise with service departments to ensure that requests for information are managed within the legislative timeframes, escalating overdue requests and non-compliance as needed.
• Manage exemptions and the public interest test by collating service area intelligence and information, interpreting legislation and case law, and providing technical legislative advice to services, senior managers, and the council's public interest test panel.
• Support the investigation of complaints relating to FOI and EIR requests by providing technical advice, interpretation of legal requirements, case law and evidence-based information.
• Ensure FOI performance statistics and transparency data, as required by statutory codes of practice, and management information are prepared, provided, and where relevant, published.
• Provide day-to-day supervision of the allocation of work of the Business Support Assistant and provide technical advice and support.
• Work closely with the Information Rights Officer (Data Protection Act) to ensure requests for information are managed in an efficient and timely manner.
• Ensure information is accessible to the public in accordance with statutory transparency data publication requirements by undertaking research, collating data, and ensuring webpages are up to date.

Qualifications/Professional Membership

• Educated to degree level or equivalent or have substantial FOI experience.
• Postgraduate qualification in Information Rights or ISEB professional certificate in information governance.

Skills

• Effective written and oral communications skills to lead workshops and deliver management briefings and training.
• Diplomatic with the ability to influence others.
• Flexible approach for dealing with a wide-ranging customer base including members, senior managers, Office of the Information Commissioner, and legal representatives of third parties.
• Ability to identify important and critical information.
• Ability to organise own work and to motivate and support others.
• ICT skills.

Guidant, Carbon60, Lorien & SRG - The Impellam Group Portfolio are acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.

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