Date: Thursday 1st December.
Time: 1.30 to 4.30pm.
Venue: Northern Ballet, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7PA.
Tickets: CIPR members: £30 + VAT; non-members: £45 + VAT; student concessions: £20 + VAT.
To book: Contact Lynda on 01652 633300 or email info@posimp.co.uk.
The Freedom of Information Act is being used by a whole range of individuals and organisations to extract information from the public sector. Journalists, campaign groups, individuals with a grievance and businesses seeking information around contracting are all using the Act.
Responding to requests under FOI demands resources and has far reaching implications for communications teams. Hear how two organisations have structured to respond to FOI and how the communications function is engaged. Examples of the issues that FOI brings and some solutions will be shared by our presenters.
The use of FOI as a tool to get information is increasing rapidly and strategies are becoming far more sophisticated. Any serious PR professional needs to have knowledge of how to manage and respond to requests under FOI. We have two presenters with their own experiences of communications around FOI and uniquely qualified to talk about this topic.
- Helen Lennox
Former journalist Helen Lennox is Head of Corporate Affairs for Scottish Water. She leads the team that deals with all news stories and media enquiries across the business, including FOI requests. Scottish Water is the fourth largest water and waste water services provider in the UK and at £1 billion it is in Scotland's list of top 20 businesses by turnover. Helen will talk about the financial cost of FOI requests on the business and the impact on media relations. She will be sharing insights and tips for best practice on handling FOI requests. - Steve Pearson
Steve is the Communications and Media Manager for Rotherham MBC having returned to the Corporate team following a five year spell covering communications for Children and Young People's Services. He has a breadth of experience in public sector communications and has previously worked at Bradford Council. He also worked in local newspapers and radio for more than 10 years and still keeps his hand in doing sports commentaries on matches from Chesterfield to Argentina!
Please feel free to tell anyone who might be interested about this event and we hope to welcome you or some of your colleagues there.
