The Freedom of Information Officer's Handbook

‘Comprehensive, authoritative, definitive, exceptionally well organized and presented, “The Freedom of Information Officer’s Handbook” is a complete and thoroughly ‘user friendly’ instructional guide and reference for anyone charged with FOI responsibilities and responses to requests. An essential and core addition to governmental information policy maker reference collections, “The Freedom of Information Officer’s Handbook” is essential reading for all journalists and is unreservedly recommended for community, college, university collections.’- Able Greenspan, Midwest Book Review

‘The book is an absolute must read for staff new to FOI (and new to complex UK legislation) as they navigate their way through this new world and language. However, it is also a wonderful resource for more experienced staff to dip into as and when required. Every FOI Officer should have a copy on their desk.’- Lynn Wyeth, Head of Information Governance at Leicester City Council, Freedom of Information Journal

Paul Gibbons is an independent consultant and trainer specialising in information rights. He is best known for his FOIMan blog which he began writing in 2010 reflecting on his own experiences of implementing FOI in three very different public authorities: the Greater London Authority, an NHS Trust in south-east London and SOAS, a college of the University of London. Before getting involved in FOI, Paul completed a Masters in Archives Administration at Aberystwyth University, going on to work for many years as a records manager in the pharmaceutical industry, local government and in the Houses of Parliament. He was later awarded an LLM with distinction in Information Rights, Law and Practice by the University of Northumbria. In addition to the continuing FOIMan blog, he writes a regular series of articles for the Freedom of Information Journal and has also featured in the Daily Telegraph and Times Higher Education Magazine. In the past he has contributed articles to the Records Management Journal and the Journal of the Society of Archivists (as it then was). He is a member of the examination board for PDP’s Freedom of Information Practitioner Certificate and is regularly invited to speak at conferences and other events on FOI, data protection and other information rights issues.