Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 187 Subsection 53.1(1) Access to manuals 53.1(1) Every local authority shall make reasonable efforts to: (a) make available on its website all manuals, policies, guidelines or procedures that are used in decision-making processes that affect the public by employees of the local authority in administering or carrying out programs or activities of the local authority; or (b) provide those documents when requested in electronic or paper form. Subsection 53.1(1) of LA FOIP requires local authorities to make reasonable efforts to make available its manuals, policies, guidelines, or procedures used in decision-making where they affect the public in terms of administering or carrying out its programs or activities. The manuals, policies, guidelines, and procedures should be made available on the local authority’s website. The principle underpinning this provision is one of open government. The availability of material that guides decision-making allows members of the public to understand how decisions that affect them are made and opens up the decision-making process to public scrutiny.331 The documentation need not carry the title, “manual”, “policy”, “guideline” or “procedure”. They may be stand-alone documents, or they may be part of larger documents. A decision-making process that affects the public means a process that determines how a local authority’s programs and services will be delivered to the public in general or the segment of the public that the local authority is intended to serve or to regulate.332 Examples of decision-making processes include: • Assessing or verifying eligibility for a program; • Calculating a fee; • Awarding a contract in a tendering business; • Applying standards in tests or inspections; or • Deciding to use a law enforcement measure that carries a risk of harm.333 331 Service Alberta, Bulletin No. 3: Access to Manuals and Guidelines at p. 1 and Service Alberta, FOIP Guidelines and Practices: 2009 Edition, Chapter 2, at p. 42. 332 Service Alberta, Bulletin No. 3: Access to Manuals and Guidelines at p. 2. 333 Service Alberta, Bulletin No. 3: Access to Manuals and Guidelines at p. 2.
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