Purpose

The TCCS Open Access Information Policy (the Policy) sets out how the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate meets its obligations in ensuring open access information is made publicly available.

This Policy is maintained in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Volume 1 – Open Access Information) Guidelines 2020 (the Ombudsman Guidelines).

Objectives

The ACT Government is committed to the continuous improvement of public accessibility of government information. TCCS supports the openness and proactive disclosure of information held by the Directorate to the ACT Community.

The key objectives of this Policy are to:

• ensure TCCS complies with open access information requirements in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2016.
• identify the open access information held by TCCS, including how it is made publicly available.
• inform business units of their responsibilities in the identification and publication of open access information.
• encourage pro-disclosure in embedding the access principles for document and records management within TCCS.

Scope

This policy applies to all TCCS officers and employees developing, reviewing and publishing documents which may contain open access information, and has specific applications for the TCCS Information Access Team and Ministerial Services Unit.

This policy complements the objectives of the TCCS Records Management Policy and Records Management Program.

Roles and responsibilities

Information officers

Information officers are appointed by the TCCS Director-General to exercise delegated functions of the FOI Act.

For the purpose of this Policy, delegated functions that Information Officers are responsible for include:

• ensuring TCCS meets its obligation to publish open access information;
• consider the appropriateness of TCCS’ publication undertakings (section 19); and
• proactively consider whether and how public access may be given to other government information held by TCCS.

What is Open Access Information

Per section 23 of the FOI Act, open access information (OAI) is any information held by TCCS which was created on or after 1 January 2018, and meets any criteria under the below sub-headings. OAI generally is in the format of electronic documents, however, can be in any record format.

Business units must identify whether any of the information they manage could be considered OAI and, if it is, ensure it is accurate, up-to-date, complete, and publicly available to the fullest extent possible.

Further information on identifying OAI is available in the Ombudsman Guidelines.

Functional information - 23 (1)(a)

Information about the Directorate’s administrative arrangements, including:

• top-level organisational structure;
• functions, in simple terms to help the ACT Community understand the range and scope of functions and services;
• kinds of government information held; and
• how to request access to government information.

TCCS maintains functional information on the TCCS Website, which is consistent with the model website approach at Appendix B of the Ombudsman Guidelines.

Tabled documents - 23 (1)(b)

Information about TCCS, or the work of TCCS, contained in any documents tabled in the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (the Assembly) by or for TCCS.

This information is primarily available through the following:

• The TCCS Annual Report on the TCCS website.
• Whole of Government or Ministerial reports, which TCCS is required to contribute to, on the coordinating agency’s website.
• Financial and performance audits, and information reports produced by the ACT Audit Office on the ACT Audit Office website (reports).
• Reports made by Assembly committees on the Assembly website (committees); and
• Any other applicable documents, including bills presented to the Assembly, on the Assembly website (Assembly documents).

Policy documents - 23 (1)(c)

Finalised Directorate documents (i.e. not drafts) which:

• contain interpretations, rules, guidelines, statements of policy, practices or precedents (e.g. privacy and complaint-handling policies);
• contain a statement about how an Act or administrative scheme is to be administered (e.g. fact sheets summarising specific, government programs administered by TCCS);
• describe the procedure to be followed in investigation a contravention of an Act or administrative scheme (e.g. investigation manual); or
• similarly are used to assist agency to exercise function.

The intention of this category of OAI is to ensure the ACT Community is able to access information which will help them understand how decisions which impact them are made.

Further guidance on identifying policy documents, for the purposes of the FOI Act, is available in the Ombudsman Guidelines. The Governance Team can be contacted for further advice on identifying policy documents within the scope of OAI, and the IA Team on the application of the public interest test, as required.

Budget papers - 23 (1)(d)

Budget papers and Appropriation Acts presented to the Assembly under the Financial Management Act 1996.

TCCS budget statements are published annually on the Treasury website (ACT Budget), and Appropriation Acts are available through the ACT Legislation Register website.

Government grants - 23 (1)(e)

Information about government grants made or administered by TCCS.

Information on TCCS grant programs, successful grant awards (including recipient, amount and project description), the selection criteria and decision-making process for grant award, and management of grant agreements is available on relevant pages of the TCCS website, and easily accessed using the ACT Government Grants search.

TCCS disclosure log - 23 (1)(f)

A disclosure log of all information released in response to access application made to TCCS.

TCCS maintains a disclosure log in accordance with section 28of the FOI Act, which is consistent with the recommended template in the Ombudsman Guidelines.

The Information Access team(IA Team), within the  Procurement, Legal and Information Access branch, is responsible for maintaining the disclosure log per legislative timeframes under section 28(4) of the FOI Act; the disclosure log is published on the TCCS website (FOI disclosure log); this information is published to the TCCS website by the Communications team.

Advisory bodies – 23(1)(g)

A statement listing all boards, councils, committees, panels and other bodies established by TCCS for the purpose of advising the Directorate or responsible Ministers (advisory bodies), and any report or recommendation prepared by an advisory body.

Advisory bodies:

• include those both established and not established under legislation;
• include external panels of experts or community groups (e.g. ACT Bicycle Advisory Group);
• generally do not include internal boards or committees responsible for administrative, recruitment, or policy matters (e.g. TCCS Audit Committee, or project steering committees); and
• are not limited to permanent bodies or those which provide formal reports or recommendations.

Information on notable advisory bodies is published on the TCCS website. TCCS also publishes information on internal board or committees, to increase transparency of the Directorate’s operations, through its Annual Report.

Reports and recommendations made by an advisory body are published on the TCCS website, on the dedicated page of the relevant advisory body, no later than three (months) after being received.

Ministerial briefs - 23 (1)(i)

Ministerial briefs prepared by TCCS which are:

• an incoming ministerial brief, parliamentary estimates brief, annual reports brief, or question time brief; and
• are at least 5 years old (e.g. an estimates brief prepared February 2023 would not be required to be published until February 2023).

The TCCS Ministerial Services Unit (MSU), within the Governance and Ministerial Services branch, with support of the IA Team, co-ordinate the quarterly identification and review of Ministerial briefs, retrospective of the previous quarter; this information is published to the TCCS website by the Communications team.

Agency publication undertakings - 23 (1)(j)

A statement published by TCCS setting out the kinds of government information it holds, which does fall within an OAI category under section 23 of the FOI Act, will be made publicly available.

At this time, TCCS has not published an undertaking under section 29 of the FOI Act. The need for a publication undertaking will be reviewed annually by Information officers in consultation with business units.

Information declared by the ombudsman - 23 (1)(k)

Information the ACT Ombudsman has declared to be OAI under section 65 of the FOI Act.

At this time, no declarations have been made which TCCS is required to comply with. Information officers will be notified of any declarations and this Policy will be updated accordingly.

Information prescribed by legislation - 23 (1)(l)

Information prescribed by legislation.

At this time, no regulations have been made in relation to OAI which TCCS is required to comply with. Information officers will be notified of any regulations and this Policy will be updated accordingly.

Publishing Open Access Information

TCCS must make any OAI publicly available unless it is information which is contrary to the public interest.

Business units hold primary responsibility for the publication of any OAI they manage (with the exception of Ministerial briefs - 23 (1)(i)), including determining whether information may be contrary to the public interest. Prior to publication, business units must ensure records are accurate, up-to-date and complete. Business units should incorporate the identification, review and OA including recording any decisions not to publish OAI in part or in full, into their existing document and records management processes.

This Policy and the TCCS Records Management Program also support the voluntary publication or other information which upholds the objects of the FOI Act.

Public Interest Test

Information is considered contrary to the public interest information if:

• taken to be contrary to the public interest to disclose under Schedule 1 of the FOI Act; or
• the disclosure would, on balance, be contrary to the Public Interest Test (PIT) under section 17 of the FOI Act.

Business units must confirm information is not contrary to public interest prior to publication by:

• excluding the instances in which disclosure would be contrary to public interest (Schedule 1); and
• determining an appropriate decision by balancing factors favouring access against those favouring non-disclosure (Schedule 2).

A decision not to publish OAI, including partial publication, is a statutory decision and must be made by an Information officers. Business units are responsible for preparing a recommendation on disclosure to the Information Officer. Advice on applying the Public Interest Test can be requested from the Information Access team.

Business units should seek advice from the Information Access on the application of the Public Interest Test, particularly:

• if considering to not publish OAI, or not publish OAI in full; or
• when seeking to publish information which is not routinely published, or published under other legislation, or ACT Government or TCCS policy, strategy or agreements.

A record of the decision, containing information required under section 24(2) of the FOI Act, must be retained by relevant the business unit.

Online publication

TCCS Website

TCCS must publish OAI on the TCCS website or include a link to another website where the information is published on the TCCS website (e.g. ACT Legislative Assembly website).

Business units must ensure OAI they are responsible for is published as soon as possible, and can contact the TCCS Communications Team for advice on web publishing to the TCCS website.

Open Access Portal

After OAI is published on the TCCS website, it may also be published on the ACT Government Open Access Portal (the Portal).

The Portal acts as a central, searchable interface which enables the Community to access government information from all ACT Government agencies from the one place. OAI contained on the portal is limited to significant categories (e.g. Annual Reports, Ministerial briefs, Government grants) and not all TCCS OAI is published on the Portal.

Further information on publishing to the Portal is available at the Open Access Portal Publishing Guide.

Accessibility requirements

All OAI published by TCCS must, as far as practicable, comply with the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG), level AA.

Business units must ensure OAI complies with the ACT Government Web Accessibility Guidelines prior to publication, and should create and maintain published OAI documents in compliance with WCAG to minimise remediation prior to publishing.

Contact the TCCS Communications Team for further advice on web accessibility requirements.

Creative Commons Licences

TCCS encourages the use of Creative Commons licences for published OAI. Creative Commons licences allow the community to make free use of OAI published by TCCS, and demonstrates the Directorate’s commitment to open government by recognising government information as a community asset which should be available for public use.

Further information on Creative Commons licences, including the ACT Government Creative Commons Copyright Policy and Procedures, is available through the Territory Records Office.

Reporting

TCCS reports on the operation of the FOI Act, including OAI, through its Annual Report, in accordance with the annual report directions for the reporting period (financial year).

TCCS must also provide any data requested by the ACT Ombudsman which is required to inform the Annual Report on the operation of the FOI Act.

Information to support reporting is prepared by the IA Team. Business units must keep a record of the number of decisions to publish OAI per financial year, and provide this information to the IA upon request, by the following categories

These reports are prepared by the IA team. To enable accurate reporting, business units are required to keep a record of the number of decisions to publish OAI per financial year in the following categories:

• Published in full;
• Published in part; or
• Not published.

Monitoring and evaluation

All published OAI must be accurate, up-to-date and complete, in accordance with section 25 of the FOI Act.

All published OAI should be reviewed at least once per year, or if:

• there has been a significant change to the Directorate’s Executive Board, functions or organisational structure;
• finalisation and publication of a new policy has rendered existing policies redundant; or
• there are significant developments related to high profile matters of clear interest to the ACT Community.

Business units should determine how frequently published OAI they are responsible for is reviewed and/or updated, depending on the nature of the information, and do so accordingly.

The Directorate’s compliance with the FOI Act is subject to internal and external compliance activities. TCCS may conduct internal compliance reviews or internal audits, in accordance with the TCCS Compliance Assurance Framework, to evaluate compliance with the FOI Act, including OAI publication. Similarly, the ACT Ombudsman may audit agencies subject to the FOI Act, including for the accuracy, currency and completeness of published OAI, in accordance with its functions under section 64 of the FOI Act.

Resources and Appendices

References