Report on the webinar “What's it Really Like Working in Government Information in 2024?”, Thursday 3 October 2024, by Susan Paterson

 Susan Paterson, is an acting high school librarian working towards CILIP Chartership.

On Thursday 3^rd October 2024 the CILIP Government Information Group (GIG) hosted the webinar “What’s it Really Like Working in Government Information?” which aimed to give insight into a range of roles within the sector. It was introduced and recorded by the Chair of the session, Naeem Yar and took the format of four professionals explaining what they do and answering questions about that.

 

Tim Hayward (Lead Freedom of Information Business Partner, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) spoke first and explained his role and various remits such as housing, planning, policy development and building safety. There are 18 in the FOI team working on data protection and FOI requests. Tim explained the time deadlines they work towards to meet legislation and exemptions they have when information should not be issued. He shared some costs for them carrying out FOI requests and when it becomes unrealistic to proceed with requests if that will be excessive. Tim also went over what happens with appeals and the steps these go through before going to court. He shared that from January-March 2024, his team had 325 FOI requests, compared with 260 in that period in 2023.

 

Martin Newman (Information and Data Analysis Manager, Historic England) explained that they report to the Department of Culture & Sport, and he gave the history of their taking over from John Laing in 1992. Martin explained that they publish the National Heritage List for England, set standards, create guidance and meet regulatory compliances. He shared some interesting facts such as their having over 40K records related to listed buildings, monuments, parks, gardens, battlefields, protected wrecks and world heritage sites. He explained how his career brought him to this point and how it is incredibly varied, supportive of CPD and professional academic interests. While it has hectic and stressful moments, such as having to provide answers for use in Parliament, it is fascinating work and takes him to interesting places.

 

Belinda Carvalho (Digital Librarian, Department for Work and Pensions) spoke of her background as a school librarian and her interest in using technology within her role. She was keen to work in a team where technology was implemented more and her move to a government library role, brought that out for her. She explained how they have over 84k staff in that department. Their role is to support that work, on researching projects, carrying out literature searches both physical and digital. Belinda explained that many skills are transferable across roles, in particular critical writing and thinking skills. Belinda was accompanied by her library colleague Robbie Lumsden who has never looked back after changing from a career in a higher education library.

The full session was very interesting and gave me some insight into areas of which I had no real understanding previously. Each was completely different, and I particularly liked, when it was explained, how they had come to their current roles across their careers and how transferable skills can be utilised for anyone wishing to make a change. I would recommend watching this if, like me, you want to gain an understanding of the wider profession.

Thanks to Susan for sharing her observations of the event. If you missed out on attending it live, a recording has been uploaded to YouTube.