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FoI knocked out by flu
Posted on July 30th, 2009 1 commentI thought it was people like me in the media who were to blame for the hysteria over swine flu. As far as I understand it, this year’s flu is no more deadly or any more virulent than any other strain of flu. But it appears that when there is a decision to be made between telling the public to throw their tissues away safely or answer an FoI request - its tissue advice every time.
Look at this response to an FoI request. Is it me?
One response to “FoI knocked out by flu”
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Charles August 21st, 2009 at 08:53
No it’s not just you - Swine Flu seemed to be selectively targeting Information Officers. We didn’t hear apologies about the Olympics construction site grinding to a halt, unlike the ODA’s processing of FOIs:
“We indicated in our letter of 22 July that we had hoped to
finalise our response by the end of this week. Regrettably, we will be unable to meet
that deadline because our Information Officer (who is the only ODA staff resource
administering and handling Freedom of Information requests) has been diagnosed
with Swine Flu and is presently recovering out of office. This has placed severe
restraints on our ability to process requests, but we hope to be able to respond to you
in the course of next week.
We trust that you will agree to this extension of time in the circumstances, and we
apologise for the inconvenience.”( http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/construction_helpline#incoming-40519 )
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