Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal August 2006 Volume 4(4)

Special collections: focus

Preventing and protecting

The role of Information Manager with the Service is a hugely varied one, but also extremely enjoyable and rewarding. Through my role I play a part, along with everyone else in the Service, in “Preventing, protecting and responding”. My job may not involve attending the wide range of incidents the Service is called to but it does assist the people who do.

Ensuring Service-wide compliance with all information-related legislation (primarily Freedom of Information, Data Protection, Environmental Information Regulations, Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations and Copyright) is a daily activity. I manage the system of requests made for information made under these access regimes and ensure that the Service proactively publishes information in order to achieve the aims of openness and accessibility.

Underpinning the access regimes is records management and while I will never claim to be a records manager, working links have been established outwith the Service with those who are, ensuring Grampian meets its obligations. The Service is introducing the need for records management on the basis of business effectiveness, as well as legislative compliance. The effective storage and retrieval of information is particularly important to the Fire Service because of the need to conduct investigations (often in partnership with the police), to report to the Procurator Fiscal and Health and Safety Executive and to meet other legal requirements (in addition to the information-related ones). It is essential that the integrity of information is maintained and in some cases can be proven.

The management of the Service Intranet comes under the responsibilities of Information Management. Currently underway is a project roll-out for new intranet software which combines document management. This is a significant commitment by the Service and will ultimately replace the more traditional electronic storage facilities such as the shared network. A top priority for this project is the management of information from an end-user point of view, to ensure ease of use and alleviate issues we currently have with file naming and ‘lost’ information.

Working closely with the IT staff is important. Good working links have been established between Information Management and Information Technology, where information, tasks and responsibilities are shared. The IT staff are responsible for the technical side of things, while I have responsibility for the ‘softer’ side of things.
Through the structure of the organisation, contribution to wider service issues is encouraged. Being part of the Central Support Services function and its diverse group of responsibilities makes for very diverse function meetings but everyone is encouraged to contribute to all issues.

Ensuring effective information management and ‘marketing’ of the potential within Grampian Fire and Rescue Service has been, and continues to be, my priority. However I am also involved at a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service level. This came about with the requirement for a Publication Scheme under Freedom of Information.

An informal group was established to look at the initial requirements of the legislation and continued after the approval of the Model Publication Scheme. All eight Scottish Fire and Rescue Services are now represented, with Grampian Fire and Rescue Service taking a lead role due to the uniqueness of my position. I am currently the only Chartered Librarian in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, something I’m very proud of.

The value of this group has been recognised nationally and is now a formal part of the Chief Fire Officers Association (Scotland) (CFOA(S)). It continues to look at information-related legislation but also focuses on associated areas such as document/records management, shared training procurement and fire service issues.

I also represent the CFOA(S) Information Management Group at the Forum for Information Management in the UK. This is the ‘rest-of-UK’ equivalent, to which the Scottish group has contributed significantly and has helped shape, since the Scottish group came into being two years before the Forum.

The variety, the challenge, the possibilities for Information Management in the Fire Service are of huge importance to me, as is my role in helping Grampian Fire and Rescue Service achieve its ‘Vision and Values’, making the community safer. IS

Jacqueline Mackay is Information Manager, Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, Aberdeen.

Information Scotland Vol. 4(4) August 2006

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