RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE EFFECT OF FOI ON ARCHIVES OFFICES
IN SCOTLAND
Phase 1 Questionnaire for December 2004
Section 1 – The effect of FOI on the nature and level of your business
1(a) How many archives enquiries, on average, do you receive currently per
month? Include letters, emails and faxes in the total.
1(b) Do you expect an increase in the number of these enquiries in January?
Yes
No
Don’t know
1(c) If you answered yes, how many more (expressed as a %) do you think
you will receive? Please give your best guess.
1(d) Have you considered which subject areas enquirers are most likely to be
interested in? If so, please list up to five of the ones you expect to be most
popular.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2(a) How many enquiries about your office’s operations, policies and plans –
rather than about the archives you hold - do you receive currently per month
on average? Include letters, emails and faxes in the total.
2(b) Do you expect an increase in the number of these enquiries in January?
Yes
No
Don’t know
2(c) If you answered yes, how many more (expressed as a %) do you think
you will receive? Please give your best guess.
2(d) Have you considered what information about your office’s operations,
policies and plans enquirers are most likely to be interested in? If so, please
list up to five examples.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2(e) Which of these, if any, are included in your authority’s publication
scheme?
3(a) How many complaints, if any, do you receive about the way you handle
enquiries currently on average each year?
3(b). Do you expect an increase in the number of complaints from January?
Yes
No
Don’t know
4. What proportion (expressed as a %) of your enquirers are from outside
Scotland? Please give an estimate if possible.
5(a) Do you intend to use the section 25 exemption for information that is
readily accessible (ie. catalogued and available to anyone visiting your search
room) when you receive archives enquiries?
Yes
No
5(b) Is there an entry (or entries) in your authority’s publication scheme for the
archives and/or the catalogues?
Yes
No
6(a) Will you be offering enquirers a paid research service?
Yes
No
6(b) If you have answered yes, what percentage of the total number of
enquirers do you think will use the service?
7(a) Do you expect FOI to affect any of the other services your office provides
or any other activities you undertake?
Yes
No
7(b) If so, please give examples and say why.
8(a) Which legislation, if any, do you think may cause more difficulties?
Please choose one of the following options.
None
FOI
EIRs
DP
8(b) If you chose one of the three pieces of legislation, please explain why.
Section 2 - Preparing for FOI
9. Please list up to five things you have done to prepare for January 2005.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
10. What externally produced guidance have you used in preparing for FOI?
11. Have you identified any risk or problem areas? If so, please list up to five,
identifying the greatest risk, if possible.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
12. Please outline the key measures you have taken to reduce or manage any
of these risks or problem areas.
Section 3 – Your views
13. What do you think will be the main benefits of FOI for members of the
public? List up to five.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
14. What do you think will be the main benefits of FOI for authorities? List up
to five.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
15. In one sentence, what does FOI mean to you?
16. If you have any further comments to add on the subject of FOI and its
effect on archives offices, please use the space below