Agency Plan   

Introduction

The Tax Practitioners Board (Board) is an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and is required to comply with the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) requirements. The Board has prepared this agency plan as required by subsection 8(1) of the FOI Act.

Purpose

The purpose of this agency plan is to:

• assist the Board in planning and developing its contribution to the IPS;
• facilitate public consultation about the Board’s contribution;
• indicate what information the Board proposes to publish (IPS information holdings) and how and to whom the information will be published; and
• outline how the Board will otherwise comply with the IPS requirements under the FOI Act.

Objectives

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

• manage the IPS information holdings;
• proactively identify and publish all information required to be published in accordance with subsection 8(2) of the FOI Act;
• proactively identify and publish any optional information to be published in accordance with subsection 8(4) of the FOI Act;
• review and ensure on a regular basis that information published under the IPA is accurate, up to date and complete in accordance with section 8B of the FOI Act;
• ensure that information published under the IPS is easily discoverable, understandable, machine readable, re-useable and transformable;
• ensure satisfactory conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2) (WCAG 2.0);
• measure the success of the Board’s IPS contribution by reference to community feedback and compliance review processes; and
• adopt best practice initiatives in implementing and administering the Board’s contribution to the IPS.

Establishing and administering the agency’s IPS entry

The Director of the Board’s Legal Unit, with the assistance of the Board’s Legal Unit, Business Systems and Services and Communications Units, is responsible for leading the Board’s work on IPS compliance and implementing the 2010 FOI reforms. From 1 May 2011, the Board’s Legal Unit will monitor the Board’s ongoing compliance with the IPS and ensure that the Board’s IPS entry is accurate, up-to-date and complete.

The Board will develop a comprehensive information management framework which will apply to Board information published under the IPS. This framework will comprise records management plans and policies which are currently under development. The Board also intends to develop plans and procedures to address other information asset issues.

The Board has identified the information that it is required to publish in accordance with section 8(2) of the FOI Act. The Board will also undertake a review of its current information to identify information that may be published in accordance with section 8(4) of the FOI Act.

The Board will arrange for IPS documents which are not available on the Board website, to be made available on request. The Board will publish on its website a list of any IPS documents that it is not practical to publish online. The website will state that a person seeking access to any of these documents may contact the Board’s FOI Coordinator to arrange access.

IPS Information architecture

The Board will facilitate public access to its IPS information holdings by making the information available on the Board’s website at www.tpb.gov.au.

The IPS information holdings that are available on the Board website will be published under the following headings:

• Agency plan;
• Who we are;
• What we do;
• Our reports and responses to Parliament;
• Routinely requested information and disclosure log;
• Consultation arrangements; and
• Contact us.

To ensure that the IPS information holdings are easily discoverable, understandable and machine-readable, the Board will:

• publish the IPS icon recommended by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on the homepage of its website, which will link to the IPS section of the website;
• wherever possible, provide online content in a format that can be searched, copied and transformed;
• provide a link to IPS documents published on the Board’s website from the IPS section of the Board’s website;
• provide a search function for its website; and
• seek and respond to community feedback about the IPS information holdings.

Information required to be published under the IPS

The documents that the Board is required to publish under section 8(2) of the FOI Act are generally already available on the Board’s website. The Board will also provide a link to the documents required to be published under section 8(2) of the FOI Act in the IPS section of the Board’s website at www.tpb.gov.au.

The Board will publish these documents under the following headings.

Agency plan

• This agency plan.

Who we are

• This will include an organisational chart and information about statutory appointments to the Board.
• For statutory appointments, the Board will publish the name of the person appointed and the position to which the person is appointed.

What we do

• This will outline the function and decision making powers of the Board.
• This will also include links to information sheets, proposed guidelines and explanatory papers relating to these functions and power.

Our reports and responses to Parliament

• This will include the full text of the Board’s recent annual reports tabled in Parliament.

Routinely requested information

• This will include information in documents to which the Board routinely gives access in responses to FOI requests.
• The Board will clearly identify these documents in its disclosure log published under section 11C of the FOI Act – which requires agencies to publish information contained in documents to which the agency has provided access under the FOI Act.

Consultation

• This will include information about how and to whom a comment may be submitted by members of the public where the Board undertakes public consultation on a particular matter.

Contact us

• This will include the name, telephone number and email address for a contact officer who can be contacted about access to the Board’s information or documents under the FOI Act.

Other information to be published under the IPS

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

The Board is currently undertaking a review of its current information to identify optional information that may be published in accordance with section 8(4) of the FOI Act.

IPS compliance review

The Board will review and revise this agency plan in September 2011. From this date, the Board will then review and revise this agency plan at least annually.

The Board will review the operation of its IPS from time to time and will conduct a review of its IPS compliance, in conjunction with the Information Commissioner, by 1 May 2016.