Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps is the Freedom of Information team taking to operate as a centre of excellence, other than the issuing of Round Robin advice; whether her Department has distributed template best practice guidance to Departments; and how many staff are in the Cabinet Office FOI policy team.

The Cabinet Office Freedom of Information ‘Centre of Excellence’ is an advisory function which helps ensure compliance with the Freedom of Information Act across Government. As well as seeking advice on round robin requests, departments can seek advice on sensitive and complex casework.

The Cabinet Office has not distributed template guidance on FOI best practice to departments.

The Cabinet Office FOI Policy Team consists of three FTE.