Introduction
Finance is an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). The 2010 reforms to the FOI Act included the introduction of the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). This plan describes how Finance intends to comply with the IPS.
Purpose
The purpose of this plan is to:
- identify information Finance proposes to publish for the purposes of Part II of the FOI Act
- identify how and to whom Finance proposes to publish information for the purposes of Part II of the FOI Act
- how Finance will otherwise comply with Part II of the FOI Act
Objectives
Finance's objectives are to outline appropriate procedures to:
- manage its information holdings relevant to the IPS
- proactively identify and publish information required to be published
- proactively identify and publish operational information
- review information published under the IPS on an annual basis to ensure that is accurate, up-to-date and complete
- ensure that information published under the IPS is discoverable, understandable and re-useable
- ensure that the format of online content conforms with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0)
- measure the success of Finance’s contribution to the IPS by reference to feedback and review processes; and
- any other specific agency objectives as announced from time to time.
Establishing and administering Finance’s IPS entry
Responsibility for the IPS
The Deputy Secretary of Finance's Business Enabling Services Group (BES) is responsible overall for leading the department’s work on implementing the FOI reforms, including the IPS.
Corporate Division within BES is responsibilities for the IPS, this includes:
- The FOI Unit in Legal and Assurance Branch who maintains our Freedom of Information responsibilities and Disclosure log.
- The Information Management team in Business Services and Support Branch who oversees our IPS obligations and ensures that our IPS entry and plan remain up-to-date.
- The Corporate Engagement team in Communications Branch who play a role in identifying information for inclusion for the IPS, ensuring our publications are released in a timely manner and assisting with WCAG 2.0 compliance for web content.
Under the business processes established between these areas our aim is to capture information and promote it on our IPS as quickly after publication as possible. Our IPS entry will be reviewed annually.
Access charges
In promoting a pro-disclosure culture, Finance intends to make documentation available free of charge by primarily publishing information on its website.
There is no application fee for FOI requests. However, processing charges may apply to other requests. Should your FOI request incur any charges, requestors will be provided with a written estimate of the applicable charges. For more information see our FOI page.
While Finance will endeavour to provide as much documentation as possible online, some documentation is unable to be published. This includes material that is exempt under the FOI Act or for which an FOI request must be submitted. Enquiries about the status of a document or information should be made initially to:
FOI Coordinator
Email: foi@finance.gov.au
Structure of the IPS
Finance will facilitate public access to information required to comply with the IPS by publishing relevant information on our website.
Information relevant to the IPS will be available via our IPS entry with links to the information as it resides on our website. The IPS entry itself is accessible via the About us page under the heading Access to Information. The Finance website features a search function to aid location of additional information.
The headings used on our IPS entry follow those promoted by the OAIC:
- Agency plan
- Who we are
- What we do
- Our reports and responses to parliament
- Routinely requested information and disclosure log
- Consultation arrangements
- Our priorities
- Our finances
- Contact us
As far as possible, information published to comply with the IPS will conform to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C’s) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). Some documents cannot be provided in HTML format and some will be made available to download and share in Portable Document Format (PDF). For downloadable documents, an icon appears alongside the document link to indicate the file type and size.
Information required to be published under the IPS
Part 2 - Subsection 8(2) of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 1982 outlines the information required to be published under the IPS. This information will be made available on the dedicated IPS web page under the following headings:
Agency plan
- The agency IPS Plan or any revisions of it (2a of Section 8 of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 1982)
Who we are
- Organisational chart (2b)
- Senior leadership (2b)
- A list of relevant statutory appointments(2d);
What we do
- An outline of the functions and powers of the Department (2c)
- Operational information (2j)
Our reports and responses to Parliament
- Annual reports (2e)
- Routine information reported to parliament, including [senate ordered lists….] (2h)
- Senate Order 12 Indexed list of files (2h)
- Senate Order 13 Entity contracts lists (2h)
- Senate Order 15 Appointments and vacancies (2h)
Routinely requested information and disclosure log
- Any information which is regularly provided in response to requests to the Department (subject to the exceptions in paragraph 8(2)(g) of the FOI Act)
- FOI Disclosure log (2g)
Consultation arrangements
- An outline of the arrangements and processes adopted by the Department in consulting with the public, including current consultations (2f)
Contact us
- Contact details for the Department’s FOI contact officer, who can be asked about access to Departmental information and documents under the FOI Act (2i).
- Contact details for the IPS Coordinator for general enquiries regarding the Departments Information Publication Scheme.
Other information to be published under the IPS
The Department may, from time to time publish other information pursuant to the pro-disclosure objects of the FOI Act. Such information will also be made available on the dedicated IPS web page under the “Other information to be published under the IPS” section.
This information may include Departmental financial information, reviews of our programs, information highlighting priorities, and any lists.
IPS compliance Review
Finance will conduct a compliance review of our IPS entry annually, and will revise our entry and Agency Plan as needed.
We will also conduct a review in conjunction with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at least every five years, in accordance with Part 13 of the guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner.
Finance will use the following elements from Part 13 of the guidelines to measure our performance in complying with IPS requirements:
- Agency plan: has the department published a comprehensive plan for its IPS compliance?
- Governance and administration: does the department have appropriate mechanisms in place to meet its IPS obligations, including a sound information management framework?
- IPS document holdings: has the department reviewed its document holdings to decide what information must be published under section 8(2) of the FOI Act, and information that can be published under section 8(4) of the FOI Act? Is the department’s IPS entry accurate, up-to-date and complete?
- IPS information architecture: does the department have a publication framework in place, and has it taken the necessary steps to ensure that information in its IPS entry is easily discoverable, understandable and accessible?
- Agency compliance review: does the department have appropriate processes, systems and resources in place to monitor and review its IPS compliance and make necessary improvements to its IPS implementation
