Freedom of information Policy

User Rating:  / 0

Category: Legislation & Policies

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 January 2020 15:40

Published on Friday, 20 December 2019 00:00

Written by Parish Clerk

Hits: 4464

Bramley Parish Council

Freedom of information Policy

The freedom of information Act 2000 became law on the 30^th November 2000 and widened a right of public access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities which includes parish and town councils.

Public authorities are obliged to disclose all information, written / audio / visual. Information held by councils can only be withheld from the public in very limited circumstances, if there are lawful reasons to do so.

Every council must adopt a publication scheme to be approved by the Office of the information Commissioner. A publication scheme will list all documents and information that is readily available to the public, background papers to important decisions that affect the public and material printed for both internal and external use.

A new template for the publication scheme has been introduced by the information commissioner which will take effect from 1^st January 2009.It may be adopted without modification by any public authority without further approval and remains valid until further notice. The publication scheme commits an authority to make information available as part of its normal business activities. 

Written requests:

Any request must be –

-               In writing (includes electronic means)

-               Legible

-               Capable of subsequent reference

-               Contain the name and address of the requestor

-               Describe the information required

The council must:

-               Say whether it holds the information

-               Communicate the actual information

-               Satisfy the request within 20 working days

The council is only obliged to provide information for the last 7 years, prior to that the inquirer needs to search at the Hampshire Record Office.

This policy will be review annually.

Attachments:

File	Description	File size	Last modified
Freedom of Information Policy	January 2020	102 kB	Wed, 15 Jan 2020 17:23:38