Bulletin Number 3: Manuals and Reading Rooms

Revised September 2003

PDF Version (pdf)

• Overview
• Manuals, handbooks and guidelines covered
• Providing access
• Severing information in manuals

Section 89(1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act states that, every public body must provide facilities, both at headquarters, and at any offices which its head considers reasonable, for the public to inspect manuals, handbooks or other guidelines used in decision-making that affects the public.

The principle underpinning this provision is one of open government. The availability of material that guides decision-making allows members of the public to understand how decisions that affect them are made and opens up the decision-making process to public scrutiny. The Act ensures that individuals are able to review the policy manuals and guidelines of a public body that set out the administrative practice under statute and regulation without resorting to a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Section 2.8 of the FOIP Guidelines and Practices manual establishes general requirements supporting routine access to manuals through reading room facilities. This Bulletin supplements that material and is provided to assist public bodies in meeting the requirements of section 89.

This provision applies to manuals used by employees while administering or carrying out programs or activities. Only documentation used in decision-making that affects the public is covered by section 89. Technical manuals and internal administrative guidelines do not need to be reviewed or made available under this process. For example, manuals relating to how the eligibility of applicants is assessed or how tests or inspections are generally administered, and procedures for administering a public program would be covered. Manuals relating to the processing of internal administrative forms or the operation of a piece of equipment would not be covered.

Section 89(1) requires that public bodies provide facilities where the public may inspect any manual, handbook or other guideline used in decision-making processes that affect the public at its headquarters and, if reasonable practicable, at other offices of the public body.

The term "facility" may include a location such as a reception area, a workstation, an office or any other area used for the purpose of providing access to manuals and guidelines.

For example, there may be a departmental library or information resource centre where the documentation may be stored and referenced by the public. Alternatively, there may be space in the FOIP Coordinator’s Office or those of program contacts to permit the public to read this decision-making documentation.

Information about the facilities should be made available. The information could include:

• location;
• hours of operation;
• assistance available;
• any copying arrangements; and
• access to online manuals or Internet services if available.

In the physical location it is important to have signs indicating clearly where the facilities are located and directing the public to the right area.

In addition to providing a facility where the public may inspect manuals, handbooks and guidelines used in decision-making processes, some public bodies are also providing access to these records through a web site.

This has a number of advantages:

• it makes such information publicly available;
• one copy serves many users; and
• a member of the public can be directed either to an office of the public body or possibly to a public library that can provide access.

Attention must still be paid to those individuals who either do not wish to, or cannot, access the documentation in electronic form. A reading facility should be available for those who wish to access non-electronic copies of the manuals, handbooks and guidelines.

As well, some public bodies publish their operational manuals and make them available for sale to interested members of the public. Such manuals may also be available in some public libraries across the province. The FOIP Coordinator’s Office should be prepared to indicate the available options to a member of the public describing how he or she may access any particular manual, handbook or guideline.

When a FOIP request is received to access a manual, handbook or guideline that is readily available to the public, or that is available for purchase by the public, the public body may refuse to disclose the information under section 29 of the FOIP Act.

In IPC Order F2002-023, the Adjudicator confirmed the public body’s decision to refuse the applicant’s access request for a copy of a manual that was available for purchase.

Publishing or selling copies of manuals or placing copies of manuals in libraries does not mean that public bodies do not have to provide access to manuals, guidelines and handbooks in a facility at their headquarters and offices.

Procedures or an internal coordination mechanism to ensure that the public versions of manuals, handbooks and guidelines are kept up to date should be established. The FOIP Coordinator’s Office and the program area should establish a procedure identifying the responsibility for the ongoing review and updating of the public versions of the manuals, handbooks or guidelines and ensure that these procedures are communicated to all officials and employees involved with creating this type of documentation.

Section 89(2) provides that the public body may sever information from the manuals, handbooks or guidelines that it would be authorized to refuse access to under the Act. Such severing must take place in the same way as information is deleted from records in response to a FOIP request. Public bodies are required to indicate, either in the text itself, or on an attachment to the document, the detailed reason (citing section, subsection or paragraph) for the deletion.

It is important to remember that when information is deleted during the review of manuals in order to create a public version, both the operational and public versions have to be managed, with an ongoing review of updates to the documentation.

Purpose

FOIP Bulletins are intended to provide FOIP Coordinators with more detailed information for interpreting the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. They supply information concerning procedures and practices to aid in the effective and consistent implementation of the FOIP Act across public bodies. FOIP Bulletins are not a substitute for legal advice.

Government of Alberta
Access, Privacy and Security
Service Alberta
3rd Floor, 10155 - 102 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 4L4
Phone: (780) 427-5848
Fax: (780) 427-1120
Website: http://foip.gov.ab.ca