has anyone made any requests of the DWP/Revenue yet?

..... mike shermer mentioned in another thread about it being useful to get hold of the internal DLA guidance they use .... thinking about all the other stuff that isn't available to us on the net ....

if anyone get's hold of anything interesting, needless to say, we'd be happy to consider publishing here

what about us compiling a list here of the things we'd like?

ps - paul treloar, policy oficer at lasa has written a briefing on the ACT, loosely based on an article in the january issue of LAG .... it can be downloaded here ... http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/pdfs/FOI_2005_Treloar.doc

To test matters I wrote and asked FoI Officer at local Jobcentre Plus for copies of internal guidance about Advisers Discretionary Fund, Travel to Interview Scheme and recovery of overpayments.

A very good response: copies were sent by post within four days.

The Overpayment Recovery guide is a particularly useful 170 page document because, among other things, it lists the situations where they will waive recovery, albeit a limited approach to official exercise of discretion.

Apparently, the DWP's Publication Scheme is going to be extended.

It would be great if Rightsnet could obtain electronic verions of internal guidance and have them avialable on the site. Generally DWP have internal guidance on their Intranet so electronic transfer may be possible?

hi neil -

i agree ... happy to look at this ... anyone got other ideas of what we could usefully ask for?

- shawn

How about 'The Benchbook' which the tribunal chairs use as a guide to tribunal procedure. I was thinking about asking the Appeals Service for a copy of this but was not sure if I could insist on an electronic copy.

Yes, you can ask for information in whatever format you wish and unless there's a good reason why it can't be done, that's the format you should receive it in. So far I've asked for everything in electronic format because it's much more convenient to search.

Is the Appeals Service covered by FoI though?

Steve

There's a more in-depth DMG isn't there that isn't on the DWP website?

There's something called GAP, which I think stands for Guidance and Procedures, which I understand covers the administration side of things. The equivalent of the old S-Manual for those of us who remember Supp Ben.
A colleague has requested a copy of that part of it that covers when to make an interim payment.

Being overly optimistic, as one is on Mondays, I thought I would telephone the Customer services at DLA and ask questions about Freedom to Information and their internal guidances - could'nt get through, so spoke to the call centre.

Someone with an angelic voice said they would book a return call - took all my details - and then said it could be up to 48 hours before someome got back to me - I said pardon, (like you do) she repeated herself, confirming that I had'nt misheard her. I then said that I was sure that 48 hours wasn't mentioned in their customer charter....

to which the sweet little thing said " what's that?" I suggested she ask her Supvr, she became a little less angelic, and her voice developed a slight tetchyness which had'nt been there before - end of optimistic phone call.

Has anyone got the DLA Customer services email address - I assume that gets answered within the month...................

Sorry Mike I'm struggling to understand this. You said 'pardon' for what reason? Shock that someone gave a timescale for a call back? Because that intimated that someone might actually call you back at all? I've never had anyone call me back from the DWP when they've said they would.

Blackpool's customer services' fax is 01253 331266. Seems to be mounted directly above the shredder though...

The word pardon was an automatic reaction to what I first thought was a slip of the tongue or conversely my hearing letting me down - in best Victor Meldrew fashion I could'nt believe she had said 48 hours..........

Thanks for the Fax No though

I posted a similar question on tax credits thread yesterday. I'm trying to get hold of SLA, or procedures, about IR/DWP/LAs sharing information on claims - particularly IR to help with otherwise perfect Hinchy cases, but which involve tax credits. I have emailed IR about this, but not heard back yet.