Information Publication Scheme Agency Plan

This Plan is made for the purpose of the Information Publication Scheme required by the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

Introduction 

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) and is required to comply with the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) requirements. The ATSB has prepared this agency plan (Agency Plan) in accordance with section 8(1) of the FOI Act.

Purpose

The purpose of the Agency Plan is to:

• assist the ATSB in planning and developing its contribution to the IPS; and
• show what information the ATSB proposes to publish (the IPS entry), how and to whom the information will be published, and how it will otherwise comply with the IPS requirements under section 8(1) of the FOI Act.

Objectives   

The ATSB’s objectives are to outline appropriate mechanisms and procedures to:

• manage information captured by the IPS
• proactively identify and publish all information required to be published (section 8(2))
• proactively identify and publish any optional information to be published (section 8(4))
• review and ensure on a regular basis that information published under the IPS is accurate, up-to-date and complete (section 8B)
• ensure that information published under the IPS is easily discoverable, understandable, machine-readable, re-useable, accessible and transformable
• measure the success of the ATSB’s IPS contribution by reference to community feedback and compliance review process
• adopt best practice initiatives in implementing and administering the ATSB’s contribution to the IPS
• other specific agency objectives, addressed below.

Specific agency objectives

The ATSB’s function is to improve safety and public confidence in aviation, marine and rail modes of transport through excellence in:

• independent investigation of transport accidents and other safety occurrences;
• safety data recording, analysis and research; and
• fostering safety awareness, knowledge and action.

In discharging its functions, the ATSB recognises the importance of making as much information as possible available to industry and the travelling public. This commitment must be balanced with ensuring the protection of information that is covered by privacy legislation or by the restricted information provisions of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act). 

Establishing and administering the ATSB’s IPS entry

The ATSB’s Chief Executive Officer/Chief Commissioner is responsible for leading the agency’s work on implementing FOI reforms, including establishing and administering the IPS.

The ATSB has an existing Records and Information Management framework that it considers meets the requirements of the IPS. This framework is comprised of electronic and physical records of business in all ATSB repositories including its network drives, email systems and applications. 

Through focused and targeted consultation, the ATSB has comprehensively reviewed its information and has identified the material that it is required to publish under section 8(2), information that may be published under section 8(4) and information that is made available other than by publication. 

The ATSB will adhere to section 11C of the FOI Act by publishing decisions and documents released under the FOI Act, taking into consideration the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner.

Ongoing compliance with the IPS

The ATSB’s ongoing compliance with the IPS is coordinated by the ATSB’s Legal, Governance and Strategic Policy (LGSP) Team. The LGSP Team manages the ongoing administration of the IPS entry through the following measures: 

• maintaining a robust information asset management framework
• publishing on an ongoing basis information to the public by maintaining an information register and disclosure log
• maintaining standard operating procedures for processing FOI requests including a prompt to ensure that the information released is reflected in the disclosure log
• identifying on an ongoing basis any information required to be published or optional to be published or is otherwise readily available
• reviewing on a half yearly basis whether all material has been captured and updating the ATSB website accordingly
• reviewing the Agency Plan on a yearly basis
• ensuring that the information published continues to be discoverable, accessible, useable, as well as accurate and up-to-date
• reviewing on a half yearly basis the information published to ensure all information is being captured
• ensuring the information about any charges to be imposed and how they will be calculated continues to be published.

The Communications and Media team, in liaison with the LGSP Team, is responsible for publishing the online content in accordance with government standards. The ATSB’s IPS entry will be maintained in accordance with the ATSB’s web guidelines, processes and procedures.

Ongoing review of the Agency Plan

The LGSP Team is also responsible for implementing, reviewing and revising the Agency Plan. The ATSB will monitor and review the Agency Plan whenever changes or additions are made to atsb.gov.au and will continually update and develop the Agency Plan by regularly reviewing the material published, and information produced to ensure capture.

Community engagement

The ATSB has introduced initiatives to engage with the community about the ATSB’s contribution to the IPS. These include:

• making IPS documents as easily discoverable, understandable and machine-readable as possible
• inviting members of the public to contact the FOI contact officer via the ATSB website with comments on the IPS information holdings, particularly where documents are found not to be discoverable, understandable or machine-readable
• including a feedback option on the IPS page of the ATSB website inviting users’ comments.

Structure of the IPS

The ATSB primarily publishes its IPS information holdings on the dedicated IPS page on its website, via links on its website or by advising how the information may be obtained. 

The IPS information holdings that are available on the ATSB website are published under the following headings:

Required information

• Agency plan (ss 8(2)(a))
• Who we are (ss 8(2)(b) and 8(2)(d))
• What we do (ss 8(2)(c) and 8(2)(j))
• Our reports and responses to Parliament (ss 8(2)(e) and 8(2)(h))
• Routinely requested information and disclosure log (ss 8(2)(g) and 11C)
• Consultation arrangements (s 8(2)(f))
• Contact us (s 8(2)(i))

Other information

• Our priorities (s 8(4))
• Our finances (s 8(4))
• Our lists (s 8(4))
• Aviation Occurrence Database (s 8(4))

To ensure that the ATSB IPS entry (and individual IPS documents) are easily discoverable, understandable and machine-readable, the ATSB:

• publishes an IPS entry point on its website
• wherever possible, provides online content in a format that can be searched, copied and transformed
• publishes a sitemap of its website, to help individuals identify the location of information published under subsections 8(2) and 8(4)
• provides a search function for its website
• provides an alert service to notify subscribers of new publications under the IPS or other developments in relation to the ATSB’s contribution to the IPS
• has established links at directory.gov.au
• seeks and responds to community feedback about whether the IPS information holdings (and individual IPS documents) are easily discoverable, understandable and machine-readable.

The ATSB will, so far as possible, make its IPS information holdings available for reuse on open licensing terms.

Where the ATSB has deposited or published IPS documents under a scheme such as the Commonwealth Library Deposit and the National Sound and Film Archive, the ATSB will publish on its website information about the deposits (including links where available).

Accessibility under the IPS

The ATSB will ensure, to the extent possible, that all online information it is required to publish under the IPS (section 8(2)) and all optional information published on its website conforms with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2 Level AA (WCAG 2.0). Where a person requires an alternative accessible format of a document, it will be made available on request to ATSBinfo@atsb.gov.au.

The majority of documents listed on the IPS section of the ATSB website are published in HTML format to meet accessibility requirements. A small number of exceptions may apply to:

• Documents that are out of date, but that are provided for historical reference (these will be supplied in the formats in which they are currently available)
• PDFs made of images of scanned documents
• Some charts, tables and forms (these can usually be supplied in an accessible format upon request).

Information required to be published under the IPS 

The ATSB will publish documents requires to be published under the IPS (section 9(2) in the IPS on its website here.

Agency plan

• The Agency Plan

Who we are

• This will include the ATSB Organisation chart and information about statutory appointments.
• The ATSB will also provide information about its portfolio budget statement and its international engagement.

What we do

This includes information about the functions of the ATSB and its decision-making powers. The ATSB will provide links to the different parts of the ATSB website where its functions, operations and powers are explained in greater depth.

Our reports and responses to Parliament

This will include links to the ATSB’s most recent annual reports. 

Routinely requested information and disclosure log

This will include information in documents to which ATSB routinely gives access in response to FOI requests, and information on documents in its disclosure log published under section 11C of the FOI Act.

Consultation arrangements

This will include information about how and to whom a comment may be submitted by members of the public, where the ATSB undertakes public consultation on a specific policy proposal.

Contact details

This will include the details of a contact officer who can be contacted about access to the ATSB’s information or to documents under the FOI Act. 

Other information to be published under the IPS

The ATSB will publish on its IPS entry other information that it holds in addition to the information published under section 8(2), taking into account the objects of the FOI Act (section 8(4)).

The ATSB publishes optional information under the following headings:

Our priorities

This will include the Minister’s Statements of Expectations and the ATSB’s Statements of Intent to the Minister, as well as the ATSB’s Annual Plan.

Our finances

This will include information relating to pay and grading structures, procurement procedures, tendering and contracts, as applicable.

Our lists

This will include lists of files, agency contracts, grants and appointments, disclosure logs and data sets, as applicable. 

IPS compliance review

The ATSB will review and revise the Agency Plan every 5 years. 

The ATSB will review the operation of its IPS entry from time to time and at least every five years (per section 9(1) of the FOI Act), in accordance with the Australian Information Commissioner’s guidance.[1]

The ATSB will focus on the following key elements of IPS compliance measuring its success in complying with the IPS requirements: 

• Agency plan — has the ATSB published a comprehensive plan for its IPS compliance?
• Governance and administration — does the ATSB have appropriate governance mechanisms in place to meet its IPS obligations, including an information management framework?
• IPS document holdings — has the ATSB reviewed its document holdings to decide what information must be published under section 8(2) and further information that can be published under section 8(4)? Is the ATSB IPS entry accurate, up-to-date and complete?
• Structure of the IPS — does the ATSB have a publication framework in place and has it taken the necessary steps to ensure that information in its IPS entry is easily discoverable and accessible to the Australian community?
• Agency compliance review — does the ATSB have appropriate processes, systems and resources in place to monitor and review its IPS compliance and to make necessary improvement in the agency’s IPS implementation?