The ACT Ombudsman writes guidelines to support organisations in implementing policies and procedures to meet their responsibilities. These guidelines cover:
- how to meet FOI and open access obligations
- how to meet requirements under Reportable Conduct
- best practice complaint-handling.
Freedom of Information Guidelines
The FOI guidelines are designed to help government organisations understand the legislation.
The following draft guidelines are now available.
- Freedom of Information Guideline 1 of 6—Open Access Information (September 2019)
- Freedom of Information Guideline 2 of 6—Informal Requests for Government Information (September 2019)
Four additional draft guidelines on the FOI Act will be published in 2019 on the following topics:
- public interest considerations
- processing access applications
- amending personal information
- reviews and complaints.
The complete set of six guidelines will be finalised in early 2020.
Reportable conduct and working with children
The following practice guides explain the reportable conduct scheme:
- No. 1—How the ACT Ombudsman responds to notifications and reports
- No. 2—Identifying Reportable Conduct
- No. 3—Risk management following an allegation of reportable conduct against an employee
- No. 4—Planning and conducting an investigation
- No. 5—Employer responsibilities
- No. 6—Making a finding of reportable conduct
- No. 7—17J final report
- No. 9—How the ACT Ombudsman assesses an employer's response/investigation
- No. 10—Addressing child protection issues in a code of conduct
The Reportable Conduct Resource Kit contains more information including definitions, forms and brochures.
Complaint-handling
The Commonwealth Ombudsman has published the following best practice guidelines on complaint-handling:
Better practice guide to complaint-handling
This guide defines the essential principles for effective complaint-handling. It is a tool to assist agencies in developing and evaluating their complaint-handling systems.
View guideline
Better practice guide to managing unreasonable complainant conduct
This manual is designed to help organisations be consistent when interacting with complainants. It provides strategies to assist all staff members. The guide focuses on unreasonable complainants.
View guideline