Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004

Dear Ms Lister

Please see the attached acknowledgement of your recent FOI Request
together with a leaflet explaining how CLG deals with requests for
information.

I hope this helpful.

Regards

Jim Gorman
Sustainable Buildings
Communities and Local Government
Zone 5/E8
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW15DE
0303 44 41795
<<Acknowledgement Letter (Lister- F0003576).doc>> <<091005 - Access to
Information leaflet - final with new address and telephones.doc>>

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Dear Mr Lister,

Thank you for your request of 12 January to the Building Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC) seeking information about Registers of Information and documents to be kept by local authorities.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly, and in any event no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. However, when a qualified exemption applies to the information and the public interest test needs to be considered, we are permitted by section 10(3) of the Act to extend the time for response by a reasonable period. We do, of course, aim to make all decisions within 20 working days, including in cases where we need to consider where the public interest lies in respect of a request for exempt information. Your request, however, raises complex public interest considerations which must be analysed before we can come to a decision on releasing some of the information. However, we can provide you with a current update as requested.

Communities and Local Government are still in the process of considering the issues, particularly those relating to the funding of the register. However, this has been further complicated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO’s) decision regarding accessing information that maybe classified as “environmental information” as defined by the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). In response to the ICO’s decision a local authority, East Riding of Yorkshire, has lodged an appeal against the ICO’s decision. Subject to the outcome of the appeal Communities and Local Government will decide how best to proceed with the proposed local authority registers of building control information.

You may wish to be aware that updates to the building regulations register are included in the BRAC papers which can be found on the Department’s website at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningan...

In your case we need to extend our response time limit for the remaining information by a further 20 working days to give us time to assess whether the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it

Therefore, we plan to let you have a further response by 9 March 2010. If there is a need for any further extension of time we will keep you informed.

Communities and Local Government as an organisation aims to be as helpful as possible in the way it deals with requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If, however, you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been handled or the outcome, you may request an internal review within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Information about the Department's review procedures and how to apply for an internal review of your case is contained on the Department's website at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/.... This also explains your right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision in the event that you remain dissatisfied following the authority's review

Please contact us if you have any queries about this email.

Yours sincerely,

BRAC Secretariat

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Our Ref: F0003576
Dear Mr Lister

Thank you for your email of 9 February requesting an explanation on the following: “However, this has been further complicated by the Information Commissioner’s office decision…... “

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO's) decision has complicated the issue of funding for the Local Authority Registers of Building Control Information. There is a cost to local authorities in processing the raw data on Building Control information into a format that is publicly accessible via a register. It was originally envisaged that local authorities would be able to charge for accessing the data to recover these costs.

However, data that comes under the EIR would have to be provided free of charge if it is inspected in situ. The only charges that can be made are for photocopying and postage if the data is sent out on request. This would not cover the costs of processing the data. Therefore, if the ICO's decision is upheld local authorities will not be able to charge for accessing the data to recover the costs of putting the raw data on Building Control information into a format that is publicly accessible via a register.

Please contact us if you have any queries about this email.

Yours sincerely

BRAC Secretariat

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Dear Mr Lister

Please find attached a further letter with attachment by way of response to your original email of 12 January relating to the above request.

Yours sincerely

BRAC Secretariat
Department for Communities and Local Government

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