Freedom of information policy

Responsibilities

Our Chief Executive is responsible for overseeing access to public information. Each service manager is responsible for the management of information including the promotion of access to information in their service.

The Chief Officer (Corporate Governance & Housing Repairs) is responsible for the strategic direction of requests under the act and, together with the Information Governance Officer (IGO), will provide all relevant legal advice and advice. The IGO will manage, co-ordinate and where necessary apply the relevant exemptions.

All employees who receive a request for information that cannot be resolved in the normal day-to-day requirements of their role will forward such a request straight away to the IGO.

Obligations and duties

The council recognises its duty to:

• Inform individuals making requests under the act, if we hold the information and provide access to information we hold in accordance with the requirements of the act
• Provide advice and assistance to anyone making a request for information. This will include helping enquirers that make complex verbal requests to put such requests into writing so that they can be handled under the act
• Provide advice and assistance on request to the visually impaired or to individuals that do not use English as their first language

If relevant to assist the applicant by transferring requests to another public body where the information requested is not held by us.

Publication scheme

We adopted the Information Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme for Principal Local Authorities in 2009. It is available on our website here: Freedom of Information Act 2000 – publication scheme

Local Government Transparency Code

Alongside our publication scheme we also publish information specified under the Local Government Transparency Code.

Central government introduced the code to establish a clear framework of information that local councils should publish. The publishing of information is set at quarterly, annually and once only.

The code does not replace or supersede the existing legal framework for access and re-use of our information such as:

• Freedom of Information Act 2000
• Environmental Information Regulations 2004
• Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015
• Data Protection Act 2018

Last updated: 20/11/2023 09:30