Fact Sheet - The role of public sector leaders in supporting the object of the GIPA Act

Leaders occupy an important role in securing the object of the GIPA Act to:

Strategic, operational and cultural factors need to be targeted to stimulate the effective, ongoing, release of government-held information. Leaders have a responsibility to achieve this outcome. 

Increasing the amount of accessible government information and data improves transparency and accountability, supports evidence-based policy development, and provides a platform for innovation.

These benefits can be realised by ensuring that information release is a planned strategic intention that will also benefit and inform other areas of your agency’s work.

The following foundations outline how you can ensure that information access is an integral part of your agency’s business and that all staff recognise their duty in facilitating timely access to information.

Your responsibilities under the GIPA Act and the GSE Act are complementary.

You are required to uphold government sector core values: GSE Act s 7. These expressly include upholding the law, institutions of government and democratic principles, and providing transparency to enable public scrutiny.

Compliance with these core values may be expressed in an agency’s Code of Conduct to further promote compliance. 

There are key areas and strategies that you can implement to protect and promote a cultural and organisational environment that enlivens the intent of the GIPA Act. This will help advance a responsible and representative democratic government: s 3(1).

You must ensure the four information access pathways under the GIPA Act are upheld. These include:

You should ensure that all staff are aware that meeting GIPA Act obligations is the responsibility of the agency as a whole.

A pro-disclosure culture supports the regular release of information held by an agency. It encourages involvement of the public in government and informs sound decision making, policies and service delivery.

Achieving a pro-disclosure culture will depend largely on your approach and that of others in leadership roles. When it is clear to staff that their leaders respond to information requests positively and view them as an opportunity to operate more transparently with the public, staff will adopt the same practices.

Setting a strategic framework around supporting the disclosure of government information also articulates the benefits of transparency. Providing clear detailed guidance on the information that the agency should be publishing will also promote information release.

You need to review your agency’s information release program at least every 12 months and this should be part of the agency’s strategic framework: s 7(3). 

All agencies, other than Ministers, must have an AIG: s 20. The AIG must be reviewed and a new AIG adopted at least every 12 months: s 21. See the IPC’s: Guideline 6: Agency Information Guides and Agency information Guide self-assessment checklist for agencies.

Strategies can include:

Where information is frequently requested (such as agency statistics), you should consider publishing the information on www.data.nsw.gov.au, or making it available in other ways outside the formal access application process.

Your agency disclosure log should be regularly reviewed to determine if information provided under formal access applications could be published or made available under authorised proactive release.

Not only is this approach in keeping with the object of the GIPA Act, it is also more proactive and efficient than requiring interested members of the public to make formal access applications for government information.

A failure in information governance can present a significant risk to an agency. You should ensure that the agency record management systems and practices facilitate the timely and accurate processing of information access requests. 

Searches for information falling within the scope of a request will be easier if your agency has in place a sound records management system and applies consistent naming conventions and search terms. 

You should support and encourage respect for the independence of Right to Information and GIPA officers as decision makers in relation to access applications.

Ensure there is sound understanding among staff that, while a decision maker may consult a wide range of people including experts in business areas, a decision maker must not be subject to direction in making their decision in relation to an access application: s 9(2).

Informed and independent decision-making in deciding access to government information is facilitated: ss 16, 53, 54. Decision-makers are especially required, when determining the public interest, to have regard to the principles articulated in s 15 and, in particular, s 15(c) where it is not relevant to consider a loss of confidence or embarrassment to the Government in a proposed release of information.

This recognition of independence does not prohibit the establishment of effective relationships with other stakeholders. However, these relationships should not impede independent decision-making.

To do their jobs effectively when a request for government information has been received, Right to Information or GIPA officers rely on the assistance of staff in operational areas to identify and provide relevant documents and expert assistance promptly.

However, staff in operational areas will not necessarily deal with information access requests on a regular basis, and their focus may be on other organisational priorities. Accordingly, a culture of responsibility and timeliness is required  to support these statutory functions.

Inadequate training and/or procedures can leave agencies vulnerable to non-compliance, undue influence, and ultimately an escalation in complaints. 

Investing in the capabilities of staff who are involved in dealing with information access requests will lead to better decision making and analysis, and will build capacity within your agency.

You should ensure systems are in place to monitor staff training and ensure that new staff receive base line training, including the IPC’s free e-learning modules. 

Additionally, changes in recordkeeping practices necessitate contemporary knowledge and robust procedures to benefit the agency in exercising its functions.

It may be helpful to identify one or two contacts for GIPA matters in business areas that receive frequent information access requests. These contacts may assist with retrieval of information and provide context and advice on behalf of the business area to support the decision maker.

You should review the resources available for dealing with information access requests and ensure that the resources are sufficient to manage the requests.

This is particularly important during periods where there is an increase in the number or complexity of requests for access to government information made to the agency.

The IPC’s GIPA Tool provides agencies with a case management system to track and monitor applications and timeframes. Utilising this tool will assist the agency in better managing GIPA applications generally. 

You can set key performance indicators for staff on compliance with their responsibilities under the GIPA Act: see IPC Guide: Quick guide to my responsibilities under the GIPA Act.

This would encourage staff to champion your agency’s proactive release program, helping to embed a pro-disclosure culture.

Regular monitoring and assessment of access applications (both informal and formal), as well as complaints received about information access, are a rich source of information that your agency can apply to:

The IPC’s website (www.ipc.nsw.gov.au) has a range of resources to assist agencies in elevating the quality of their processes, procedures and training in achieving the object of the GIPA Act to open government information to the public.

Other useful resources

Other resources that may be useful on this topic include:

• IPC Information Access Guideline 6 – Agency Information Guides

• IPC Agency information Guide self-assessment checklist for agencies

• IPC e-learning modules

• IPC GIPA Tool

• IPC Guide - Quick Guide To My Responsibilities

For more information

Contact the Information and Privacy Commission NSW (IPC):

Freecall:              1800 472 679
Email:                   ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au 
Website:             www.ipc.nsw.gov.au 

NOTE: The information in this fact sheet is to be used as a guide only. Legal advice should be sought in relation to individual circumstances.