LetchWood Business Management.           

     Freedom of Information                 
 

This Act came into force on January 1^st 2005, and it provides for a general right of access to information held by public authorities or by those providing services for public authorities. Subject to the exemptions in the Act, any person who makes a request to a public authority for information must be informed whether the public authority holds that information and, if so, the public authority must communicate that information to the enquirer.

This is a general right of access to information, and the spirit of the law is that we will disclose all the information we hold to better help the public understand how and why decisions were made. However, it is not always in the public interest to publicise matters, and common sense reminds us that not everything should be made available, so there are a number of exemptions to this general right of access.

Information is defined as being information recorded in any form, electronic or paper. It covers formal databases, card files, project reports, emails, minutes, and it includes material that you might think of as unrecorded, such as rough notes and even confidential minutes in some circumstances.

 A public authority is said to hold information even if it is held by another person on behalf of the authority. This means that information does not have to be in our actual possession for the Act to consider that it is held by us. So, where a contractor holds information on behalf of a public authority in relation to a public private partnership or publicly funded initiative, that information will be subject to the Act.

This also means that the information held by Councillors will be included in the list of documents owned by the Council. It is difficult to be sure where Council work ends and political work begins, but as a general guide, if it could go out on Council headed notepaper, it’s council business and fair game for a request. 

Right of access 

A “request for information” referred to in the Act is any request which:

• is in writing, including email or fax;
• legibly describes the information requested.
• is capable of being used for subsequent reference;
• gives the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence;

 Anyone making a request for information is entitled to be informed in writing whether we hold the information (the “duty to confirm or deny”), and if we do, they are entitled to have that information, or an explanation of why it is being withheld.

Advice and Assistance

We are under a duty to provide such advice and assistance, so far as reasonable, to persons who have made, or propose to make, requests for information to it.

Refusal of a Request

We can only refuse to comply with a request for information in the following circumstances:

• where an exemption applies;
• where we have requested more guidance to find the information requested, but the enquirer has failed to supply it;
• where the request is vexatious or where we have previously complied with an identical or substantially similar request from the same applicant;
• where we have estimated that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the £450 limit”.

Practical Business Support    

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Last modified: 08/31/11