As the internet has quickly become one of the first places people in the Cayman Islands look for
information about their government, the Information Commissioner’s Office has conducted an
investigation of the content and accessibility of public sector websites as they relate to the Freedom of
Information Law.

While the FOI Law does not stipulate that public authorities specifically maintain a website or promote
FOI on their website, they do have statutory duties relating to proactively publishing certain information
about themselves and the records they hold, and about the FOI requests they have received and
granted. Therefore, given the importance of the internet as a communications tool, public authorities
are encouraged to use the internet for these purposes.

The Acting Information Commissioner, Mr. Jan Liebaers, noted: “Public authorities can increase their
overall efficiency and improve public understanding of their policies, procedures and services by using a
website. It is therefore important that certain information is made available online, and that such
information is accurate and up to date, to ensure that the public is accessing correct and current
information.”

The investigation analyzed the websites of 89 public authorities in accordance with 14 specific criteria,
for instance whether there is any information on FOI on the website, whether it includes guidance on
submitting a request, and whether it includes an up-to-date version of the authority’s publication
scheme and disclosure log.

The Acting Information Commissioner called the results of the investigation “relatively encouraging as
the presence of meaningful FOI-related information on the majority of public authorities’ websites has
significantly increased since the ICO’s previous investigation in 2011.” However, he also noted that
“serious weaknesses remain, which should urgently, and as a matter of routine on an ongoing basis, be
addressed. “

The weaknesses noted in the report include a significant lack of proactive publication and updating of
publication schemes and disclosure logs on entity websites. These are key access tools which are
intended to facilitate – and in many cases preempt – the FOI process by proactively publishing
information about Government entities and their records, and previous requests made to entities. The
weaknesses in the maintenance of these tools undermine effective, proactive communication between
Government and the general public, and decrease the efficiency of the FOI process.

The ICO also examined public authorities’ websites in 2011, at which time many deficiencies were noted
and a number of recommendations made. That study served as a benchmark for the present (2016)
investigation.

The public is encouraged to read the full text of the ICO’s investigation which can be found on the
ICO website at http://www.infocomm.ky/appeals .

The following is taken from the full text of the aforementioned ICO Website Investigation Report – it is not complete:

Executive Summary
In this investigation the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) examined the web presence of public
authorities in the Cayman Islands in order to determine if the internet is being effectively used to
promote transparency and disseminate information to the public under the Freedom of Information Law
(2015 Revision) (FOI Law).

While the FOI Law does not require that public authorities specifically maintain a website or promote
FOI on their website, they do have statutory duties relating to proactively publishing certain information
about themselves and the records they hold, and about the FOI requests they have received and
granted. Therefore, given the importance of the internet as a communications tool, public authorities
are encouraged to use the internet for these purposes.

Public authorities can increase their overall efficiency and improve public understanding of their
policies, procedures and services by using a website. It is therefore important that certain information is
made available online, and that such information is accurate and up to date, to ensure that the public is
accessing correct and current information.

This investigation evaluates the websites of 89 public authorities (excluding the ICO itself) using a
number of criteria such as:
– whether they have a website, and whether FOI is signposted on the homepage;
– whether it includes guidance on how to submit an FOI request and internal review; and,
– whether it includes a current version of the authority’s publication scheme and disclosure log.

 

The public authorities were then rated and ranked from ‘1’ to ‘5’ (‘1’ being “excellent”; ‘5’ being “poor”),
with the following results:
 2 were ranked as ‘1’
 55 were ranked as ‘2’
 18 were ranked as ‘3’
 6 were ranked as ‘4’
 8 were ranked as ‘5’

 

The present investigation follows a similar study completed by the ICO in 2011, which is used as a
benchmark for comparison. It concludes that there have been marked improvements in the intervening years across the board as more public authorities have taken advantage of the internet to communicate
with the general public about themselves, the records they hold, and FOI. However, serious problems
remain, such as a lack of regular updates of various types of information and access tools such as
publication schemes and disclosure logs.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this investigation are relatively encouraging as the presence of meaningful FOI-related
information on the majority of public authorities’ websites has significantly increased since the ICO’s
previous investigation on this topic in 2011.

In the 2011 investigation report the Information Commissioner made five specific recommendations.27
This present study has reached the following conclusions on the points that were raised there:

1. Links to FOI from homepages
The 2011 investigation report recommended that “each public authority should have a direct link
from their main webpage to their FOI webpage, so that individuals have ‘one’ click access to FOI
information”. This point was raised because at that time only 27 (33%) of 90 public authorities had
such linkages in their websites.

In comparison, in 2016 68 (76%) of the 89 public authorities have their FOI webpages prominently
signposted on their homepage.

2. ICO contact details
The 2011 investigation report recommended that “each public authority’s FOI webpage should
provide ICO contact details that are correct and up to date”. At that time only 11 (12%) of 90 public
authorities’ websites did so.

In 2016 Government is doing much better on this point, with 75 (84%) of the 89 public authorities
having ICO contact information on their websites, although some need to update the ICO’s
physical and mailing address.

3. Publication schemes on websites
The 2011 investigation report recommended that “each public authority’s current year’s publication
scheme… should be accessible from its FOI webpage”. This issue was raised because at that time
only 23 publication schemes (26%) were available on public authorities’ websites, of which only 9
(10%) were up to date.

In 2016 still only 41 (46%) of the 89 public authorities have their publication scheme on their
website, of which only 15 (17%) are up to date.

4. Disclosure logs on websites
The 2011 investigation report also recommended that “although a simple disclosure log meets the
legal requirements, it is suggested that the log should provide further useful information and a link
to the actual responsive records, where appropriate in redacted form”. At that time only 11
websites (12%) included an up-to-date disclosure log, and 6 (6%) more needed to be updated.

In 2016 almost half of public authorities still do not have a disclosure log on their website. Most
of the entities that do have one need to update it and include links to the actual documents that
have been disclosed. There are 42 public authorities (47%) with no disclosure log, and 44 (50%)
with a disclosure log that has not been updated. Only 3 (3%) have an actual, up-to-date disclosure log.

5. Regular updates of FOI webpages
The final recommendation from the 2011 investigation report was that “each public authority
should regularly review and frequently update its online information in order to make full use of the
potential of the internet for proactive publication and meaningful communication with the general
public”.

Based on the information above, in 2016 there are still far too many public authorities which do
not regularly update their websites when it comes to information relevant to individuals’ rights
under the FOI Law.

In conclusion, in the last five years public authorities have clearly made better use of the opportunities
offered by the internet to publicize FOI, and to educate the public about their rights under the FOI Law.

Nonetheless, serious weaknesses remain, which should urgently, and as a matter of routine on an
ongoing basis, be addressed. These weaknesses include a significant lack of proactive publication and
updating of publication schemes and disclosure logs on entity websites. These are key access tools
which are intended to facilitate – and in many cases preempt – the FOI process by proactively publishing
information about Government entities and their records, and previous requests made to entities. The
weaknesses in the maintenance of these tools undermine effective, proactive communication between
Government and the general public, and decrease the efficiency of the FOI process.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The results of this investigation are intended to provide a further impetus for public authorities to
evaluate their outward communications in terms of information rights, and make continual
improvements and updates where they are called for.

Based on the above analysis and conclusions, the following recommendations are made:

1. Public authorities should regularly evaluate their websites and update all information relevant
to FOI as a normal part of the business process.

2. Specifically, contact information for Information Managers should be kept up to date as a
matter of routine, including email addresses, phone numbers and physical addresses.

3. As well, each public authority should publish their most recent publication scheme on their
website whenever it is updated, at a minimum on an annual basis as required by law.

4. Finally, each public authority should have an up-to-date disclosure log on their website, and if
no request was received for the year should ensure that this is captioned in the log. Dates of
receipt and resolution of FOI requests should be indicated, as well as disclosure decisions and
links to actual responsive records (with necessary redactions, and excepting cases where the
information is personal information released to the individual who is the subject of the records).

 

IMAGE:

The chart below depicts the overall ratings of public authorities (90 in 2011 and 89 in 2016) conferred in
our 2011 and 2016 investigations. It shows the overall improvement made by Government over the last
5 years

END