What do I do if I am dissatisfied?

I have another complaint not in relation to the Publication Scheme or to a request for information

We value any comments you may have about our Scheme.  Comments can be made to the Departmental Information Manager.

If you wish to make a complaint about the Publication Scheme, or about access to information held by this Department, please contact the Departmental Information Manager.  The Departmental Information Manager will acknowledge your complaint within 5 days, investigate your complaint and reply within 15 working days.

If you are not satisfied with this reply, you can write to OFMDFM’s Director of Corporate Services. Again the Director of Corporate Services will acknowledge your complaint within 5 days, investigate your complaint and reply within 15 working days.

In all cases your complaint will be investigated thoroughly and treated confidentially.

If we have not resolved the matter to your satisfaction, you can refer your complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is completely independent from this Department. The Information Commissioner will expect you to have exhausted our complaints procedure before considering your complaint.

If you disagree with the way the Information Commissioner responds to your appeal you may appeal against it.  This will be handled by the Information Tribunal.  This is strictly for use when you dispute the Information Commissioner’s response and not OFMDFM’s or any other party’s acts.

The FOI Act makes provision for appeal against the response given to a request for information, or to challenge the way in which a request was handled.

In the first instance you should contact the Departmental Information Manager in writing.

You will receive an acknowledgement on receipt of your complaint.

Your complaint will be handled by the Director of Corporate Services for OFMDFM who is unconnected with the initial request.

We will aim to complete the review within 20 working days.  Where this is not possible, you will be kept informed of progress and given a likely date for a reply.  However this should not exceed 40 working days.

Where applicable the review of your request will consist of an analysis of the initial reasons for withholding the information and, also where applicable, a consideration of how and why the public interest was applied.

If the Director overturns the original decision, the request will be processed and the information released to you, entirely or in part.  

If the Director upholds the original decision you will receive a letter detailing the reasons why we are unable to provide the information requested.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can contact the Information Commissioner