Practitioner role

Each business area within the University must have an information practitioner.

A business area is defined as a part of the University that has a common set of activities and records. It is difficult to define a business area precisely, but each school will probably have at least one practitioner.

In some areas it may be appropriate to nominate more than one practitioner, perhaps to cover different functions within an area or to share the workload by dividing the responsibilities between a number of members of staff.

Role description

1. To raise awareness of records management and access to information legislation (particularly data protection and freedom of information) issues in their area
2. To identify the measures necessary to ensure that their area is compliant with access to information legislation
3. To take the lead in setting up, implementing and maintaining records management and access to information systems in their area
4. To contribute to the creation and maintenance of the University’s publication scheme.
5. To resolve the day-to-day queries which arise in their area relating to records management and access to information legislation.
6. To deal with information requests (particularly subject access requests and freedom of information requests) received by their area
7. To liaise with Information Compliance Services to resolve more complex queries relating to records management and access to information legislation
8. To act as a channel of communication between the Information Compliance Services and their area
9. To work with the Data Protection Champion for their area as appropriate

Requirements

An information practitioner must have, or be in a position to develop, a good knowledge of the work of their area, the information their area holds and how this information is used.

Training

New practitioners will need time to attend training and familiarise themselves with the policy, procedures and guidance published by Information Compliance Services.  All practitioners are expected to attend a half-day induction workshop focused on access to information legislation and responding to requests.  Additional training, for example in relation to records management, is available on request.

Workload

Practitioners need to carry out the local responsibilities identified in the role description. The time commitment varies considerably from area to area.