We thought this one might tickle anyone who has tried to get any information from the Isle of Wight council.
We have, more than a few times, been forced to request information under the Freedom of Information Act, as ‘normal’ means have been blocked by the Isle of Wight council – one of the many notable occasion was by Chief Exec Steve Beynon, which was picked up by the Media journalist on The Guardian.
It’s just now that we’ve noticed the title that the council has given to people at the council that act as the intermediary between us, the poor hapless tax payer, and the Isle of Wight council.
Departmental Information Guardian
Departmental Information Guardian – is the grand and slightly over-bearing title.
Searching around Google it appears that the Isle of Wight council is the only UK council who uses this title.
It’s an interesting choice of words by the council.
A ‘Guardian’ is of course a person who defends something. The Webster dictionary defines a Guardian as
“One who guards, preserves, or secures; one to whom any person or thing is committed for protection, security, or preservation from injury; a warden.”
[1913 Webster]
Shouldn’t be a guard
This is definitely not what that role should be all about.
They should in fact, be the person that works alongside the members of the public – almost as an advocate for the tax-payer – doing their best to wheedle out and then deliver the information requested to the member of the public.
They should not be guarding that information or guarding it from the public. This is, after all, the law.
If our most recent FoI request is anything to go by, some of the Isle of Wight council’s Information Guardians have a noticably stronger affinity to the council that they do to the members of the public. Quite the wrong way around.
Image: pasukaru76 under CC BY 2.0
