Freedom of Info Flyer.indd

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Freedom of Information Act 2000
request  the  Council  to  disclose  information
Guidance Note 1
which  it  holds.  The  request  must  be  made

in  writing,  include  the  applicant’s  name  and
From  1  January  2005  the  Freedom  of  address for correspondence, and must describe
Information Act  2000  (FOIA)  gives  people  the  the information requested in sufﬁcient detail so
right to request access to information held by a  as to enable the Council to identify the type of
public body and for the public body to disclose  information  being  sought  (Section  8(1)  FOIA
that information. The Act also places an obligation  2000).
on public bodies to set up a Publication Scheme
detailing the types of information routinely held  20 Day Rule
by it and where this information can be found.  In general, a request must be answered within
The thinking behind the Act is that everyone has  20 working days (Section 10(1) FOIA). Hence if
the  right  to  know  how  public  authorities  carry  you receive a request you must forward it to the
out  their  duties,  why  they  make  the  decisions  Customer Services Unit for processing as soon
they do and how they spend public money. The  as possible.
rights are aimed at promoting transparency and
accountability  in  local  government  and  other  Form of Requests
public bodies.
It is not necessary for the applicant to say that
they are making a request under the FOIA but if a
This leaﬂet explains some of the key parts of the  person asks how to make a request, they should
Act including how to request information and how  be advised to state that their request is an FOIA
you, as an employee or a member of Fenland  request. Persons should also be encouraged to
District  Council,  should  process  a  request  for  specify  the  form  in  which  they  would  like  the
disclosure.
information provided to them.
The Publication Scheme
Requests  can  be  sent  by  email  or  by  letter.
The  Council  has  set  up  its  own  Publication  Ideally requests should be made to the Customer
Scheme on its website which can be found at  Services  Department  of  the  Council,  however,
[INSERT LINK]. The Council aims to publish as  requests are valid if they are given to any worker
much information as possible on the Publication  or Councillor whether or not they are present at
Scheme  so  that  the  public  can  access  the  Fenland  Hall  at  the  time  the  request  is  made.
information  without  having  to  make  a  speciﬁc  This means that if you are given an information
request.
request while you are working, you must deliver
the  request  without  delay,  to  the  Customer
If  an  applicant  requests  information  which  is  Services Department for processing.
available  as  part  of  the  Publication  Scheme,
whether in writing or orally, you should direct the  Clear Requests
applicant to the appropriate part of the Scheme  Applicants  should  give  as  much  detail  as  they
where they can access the information.
can so that it is clear what information they are
asking for. If the request is not clear, you should
It is envisaged that the One-Stop-Shops will have  ask  the  applicant  to  clarify  what  information  is
PCs  available  in  them  for  the  public  to  use.  In  being sought. Applicants should be made aware
addition special procedures will be put in place to  that failure to provide sufﬁcient detail will delay
help to assist individuals who are not computer  the processing of their request.
literate  or  who  need  extra  help,  for  example,  The  applicant  should  be  asked  the  mode  in
because of disability.
which  they  would  like  the  information  to  be
provided,  eg  letter,  e-mail,  spreadsheet  etc.
Information Requests
However, if the information is available as part of
From  1  January  2005  anyone  anywhere  can  the Publication Scheme, the applicant should be

encouraged to access the information from the  has 20 working days from receiving payment of
website themselves.
the  fee  to  provide  the  information  (Section  10
FOIA).
Helping Applicants
Some  applicants  will  need  help  to  make  their  Exempt Information
request. The Council is under a duty to provide  The  FOIA  draws  a  clear  distinction  between
reasonable  advice  and  assistance  to  persons  circumstances  in  which  an  absolute  exemption
who  wish  to  request  information  (Section  16  can  be  applied  and  those  in  which  a  qualiﬁed
FOIA).  Any  person  requiring  help  should  be  exemption will be applied.  Where an absolute
directed to contact the Customer Services Unit  exemption applies, the information does not need
for guidance.
to be disclosed by the Council at all.  In addition
there  is  no  duty  on  the  Council  to  conﬁrm  or
Processing Requests
deny  that  it  holds  the  information.   The  matter
If an information request is forwarded to you for  simply  ends  by  the  Council  sending  a  letter  to
you to obtain the information from your Service  the applicant stating that the information is not
Area, you should locate the information quickly  disclosable because it is exempt from disclosure
so that it is provided to the applicant within the  under the Act.
20 day time limit.
In  contrast,  where  a  qualiﬁed  exemption
If the information sought is not available as part  applies, the Council may only refuse to disclose
of the Publication Scheme you may be required  the  information  where  the  public  interest  in
to provide:
maintaining the exclusion of the duty to provide
information  outweighs  the  public  interest  in
•   A copy of the information
disclosing it.  This is a balancing exercise.  If the
•   Access to the information, for example, by
Council decides, on balance, that it is not in the
  permitting the applicant a reasonable opportunity
public  interest  to  disclose  the  information,  the
  to inspect a public record or register containing
duty to conﬁrm or deny whether the information
  the information
is held does not arise.
•   A written reply summarising the information
  requested (Section 11 FOIA).
Absolute Exemptions
Information which is of a type attracting absolute
Charges
exemption  (where  there  is  no  obligation  to
In some cases the Council may make a charge  disclose  the  information)  can  take  the  form  of
for  the  information  requested.  The  fees  are  the following types:
worked out according to Fees Regulations issued
under the Act (Section 9 FOIA). The government  •   Information accessible to applicant by other
is due to provide more guidance on the levels of    means
charges before the end of the year. A separate  •   Information supplied by, or relating to, bodies
guidance note will give details of how these will    dealing with security matters
work in practice.
•   Court records
•   Parliamentary privileged information
If  the  information  requested  is  usually  subject  •   Information which would prejudice the effective
to  a  charge  which  is  ﬁxed  under  statute  law    conduct of public affairs
(for example, a Land Charges Search) then the  •   Personal information
Council can carry on charging that amount.
•   Information provided in conﬁdence
•   Information which is prohibited by another piece
If a fee is payable by the applicant, the person    of legislation or if disclosed would constitute or
must be told they need to pay the fee and must    be punishable as a contempt of court.
be issued with a fees notice.  The Council then

Note  that  the  proper  avenue  for  seeking  information), and other non-exempt information,
disclosure of personal information is by making a  the document will be subject to disclosure if it
subject access request under the Data Protection  can  be  readily  understood  with  the  personal
Act 1998, and applicants who seek disclosure  information being deleted (or blanked-out).
of  personal  information  under  the  FOIA  should
be  directed  to  make  a  written  request  to  the  Where one or more exemptions apply, it will be
Data Protection Ofﬁcer of the Council (Norman  necessary  to  classify  the  information  as  falling
Eighteen).
within both exemptions for the purposes of the
auditing process. Furthermore, when a disclosure
Qualiﬁed Exemptions
request is made, it will be necessary to consider
This information is not of a type covered by an  the effect of all of the potential exemptions on the
absolute exemption (see above). The information  disclosability of the information. This may result
may  nevertheless  be  covered  by  a  qualiﬁed  in some parts of the information being withheld
exemption.  If a qualiﬁed exemption applies, the  and some parts being released.
information  will  not  be  disclosable  if  the  public
interest in maintaining the disclosure outweighs  If you are unsure whether or not an exemption
the public interest in disclosing the information. A  applies  you  should  contact  the  Legal  Services
balancing exercise is to be carried out in deciding  Section (Cara De La Mare in the ﬁrst instance)
whether or not to disclose the information.  The  for assistance.
following types of information constitute exempt
information which is qualiﬁed under the FOIA:
Refusal Notices
If the Council decides to withhold all or part of
•   Information intended for future publication
the information that is requested, a letter must
•   National security
be sent explaining which exemption applies. The
•   Defence
refusal notice must also tell the person applying
•   Relations with the UK
what they need to do if they have a complaint
•   Economy
about how their request was handled or if they
•   Law Enforcement
want to appeal against the decision.
•   Investigations and proceedings conducted by
  public authorities
Failures to Respond
•   Law enforcement
It is very important that complete records are kept
•   Audit functions
of information requests including how they have
•   Formulation of Government policy
been  dealt  with  by  the  Council. As  such,  clear
•   Health and safety
records of all correspondence should be kept by
•   Environmental information
workers who deal with information requests.
•   Legal professional privilege
•   Commercial interests
Failure  to  act  within  the  appropriate  time  limit
would be a breach of Section 10 of the FOIA and
Hard Cases
the Council may have enforcement action taken
Difﬁculty may be encountered in deciding which  against it by the Information Commissioner (this
category information falls under especially where  is  an  independent  body  set  up  by  Parliament).
a  document  contains  information  which  falls  The enforcement action could take the form of
within  an  exemption  and  information  which  is  an Enforcement Notice, ﬁnes or prosecution.
not  exempt  information,  or  where  a  document
contains  information  which  is  subject  to  more  Cara De La Mare
than one exemption.
Principal Planning and Litigation Lawyer
Note  that  where  a  document  contains  some
personal information about an individual (exempt  2 November 2004