Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities. It does this in two ways:
• Public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activites
• Members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities
The FOI Act gives two related qualified rights – the right to be told whether the information is held and the right to receive the information, subject to exemptions. The right of access applies regardless of the purpose of the application
The Act covers any recorded information held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Recorded information includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails, photographs, hand written notes and sound or video recordings.
The Act does not give people access to their own personal data (information about themselves). Individuals wishing to see information about themselves need to make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 2018.
Policy
1. Gosberton Parish Council will:
• Respond to requests for information promptly and within 20 working days from the day after the day of receipt. Where we are not able to do so we will inform requesters of the reasons and keep them updated with the progress in dealing with their request.
• Maintain a “Publication Scheme” that provides information which is readily accessible without the need for a formal FoIA request.
• Continue to protect the personal data entrusted to us by disclosing it only in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
• Consult with third parties before disclosing information that could affect their rights and interests. However, we reserve the right to take the final decision on disclosure.
• Reserve the right to make reasonable charge for information requests in line with the FoIA Fees Regulations or other applicable regulations, including charging for requests made under the Data Protection Act 20018.
• Where we are not minded to disclose information where exemption(s) app;y seek to explain the exemption and how we are applying it.
• Provide a revew process for requesters.
• Ensure that all staff are aware of their obligations under the Act to make informabion available.
Making a request for information
To be valid under the FOI Act, requests:
• Must be in writing;
• Must clearly describe the information being sought;
• Can be made by an individual or organisatoin;
• Can be made by letter, or email;
• Must be legible and
• Must contain athe name of the applicant and a return address.
To be valid under athe FOI Act requests do not:
• Hve to be written in a special form;
• Need to mention the FOI Act; or
• Need to refer to “Freedom of Information”
When makding your request you should include:
• Your preferred correspondence details e.g. name, email or postal address
• A clear descrioption of the information youj are requsting in as much detail a possible. If we need to clariy your request it may take longer to provide the information to you
Gosberton Parish Council has a duty to provide advice and assistance to applicants under Section 16 of the FOI Act so far as it would be reasonable to expect the LGA to do so. Gosberton Parish Council must advise whether it holds the information, and must normally supply it within 20 working days. However, if your request is unclear and we need further details to establish if we hold the information, we may ask you for clarification. The time limit will stop and will not restart until we receive the additional detail from you.
If you wish to request information which is not already published on our website through our Publication Scheme, please email gosbertonparishcouncil@gmail.com or write to us at:
Nelsons Cottage, Clough Road, Gosberton Clough, Spalding PE11 4JN
Repeat requests
Where a repeated request is received that is identical or substantially similar to a previous request from the same person, Gosberton Parish Council will consider this as a repeated request. G’osberton Parish Council is not obliged to comply with repeat requests for information, under the FOI Act unless a reasonable interval has elapsed between compliance with the previous request and the making of the current request.
In reaching a decision about whether an application for access should be categorised, as a repeat request Gosberton Parish Council will have regard to:
• The time that has elapsed since the previous request;
• Whether the request is identical or substantially similar to the previous request;
• Whether any relevant, new information has been generated since the previous request.
• A “reasonable interval” will be deemed to be 40 working days.
Vexatious requests
Gosberton Parish Council is not obliged to comply with vexatious requests under the FOI Act.
In determining whether a request should be refused because it is vexatious Gosberton Parish Council will consider all the circumstances of the request, including:
• The context and history of requests submitted by the applicant;
• Whether the request is likely to cause unjust distress, disruption or irritation.
• Where the request could fairyt be seen as obsessive
• Whether complying wit the request imposes a significant burden
• Whether an applicati is habitually and persistently submitting requests where there appears to be no reasonable ground for them to do so
• Whether there is a strong likelihood that sych requests are being made to intentiallonly cause harassment, cause distress to staff, divert resources or to disrupt the proper workings of the Council.
Fees
Fees
Section 9 of the FOI Act allows the LGA to charge a fee for providing information in response to a request. The fee is determined in accordance with the Fees Regulations. The Fee Regulations set out what charges are permissible for information requests. These charges are currently defined as two elements, prescribed costs and disbursements.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, the LGA does not have to comply with a request for information if the cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate limit, this is the limit for the estimated or calculated prescribed costs. The regulations define an ‘Appropriate Limit’, for non-central Government is currently £450.
The LGA must still confirm or deny whether it holds the information requested unless the cost of this alone would exceed the appropriate limit.
The LGA can only take into account the costs it reasonably expects to incur in:
• Determining whether it holds the information requested;
• Locationg the information, or document containing the information;
• Retreiveing the information, or the doctument containing it; and
• Extracting the information form the document containing it
Adopted 11th December 2023