Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information Act 2000

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires all public authorities, including councils, to be open with information. The act gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by the council. It sets out exemptions from that right and places various obligations upon the council. The council must maintain a Publication Scheme.

From January 2005 any person who makes a request to the council for information must be informed whether the council holds that information and, subject to exemptions, supplied with that information.

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Datasets and transparency

We are committed to being open and transparent about how we work, our decision making processes and the services we provide.  As part of this commitment we are increasing the amount of data that we make available publicly.

We have used the Government’s Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency, which recommends the datasets councils should make available, as a minimum, as a starting point for deciding what information we should make available.

We have also used your feedback and requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to identify additional datasets for publication.  We will continue to increase the number of datasets that we make available over time and where there is a clear public demand for the information.

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Freedom of Information and frequently asked questions

Anti-social behaviour, abandoned vehicles, flytipping, littering, dog fouling

Car parking, parking fines and electric vehicles

Council Tax and NNDR (Business Rates) or Sundry Debtors

COVID-19 Grants and Payments

Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG)

Environmental Protection – Pests, Vermin, Contaminated Land, Noise Nuisance, Private Water Supplies or any other Environmental Health

Licensing and deaths

Freedom of Information compliance statistics

Compliance statistics will be published on this page on a quarterly basis as outlined in the FOI Code of Practice, Section 8 Publication Schemes (8.5 and 8.6).

Freedom of Information Compliance Statistics
Document title File type /size
January 2023 to March 2023 pdf / 48 KB
October to December 2022 pdf / 142.12 KB
July to September 2022 pdf / 103 KB
April to June 2022 pdf / 102 KB
January to March 2022 pdf / 171 KB
October to December 2021 pdf / 144.31 KB
July to September 2021 pdf / 146.86 KB
April to June 2021 pdf / 50.64 KB

Wastes services frequently asked questions

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Publication Scheme - Guide to Information

The Publication Scheme is a guide to information which we make available on a regular basis under the Freedom of Information Act.

If you want information about a particular subject, this website offers three ways of finding it

  • The search box at the top of the page is a powerful search tool which will look for a key word or phrase among our web pages and documents
  • The A-Z of Council Services is an alphabetical index which provides links to relevant information about our services
  • The Publication Scheme, following guidelines laid down by the Information Commissioner, is a framework for access not only to information already available on the website, but also to certain other categories of information which the council makes available on request.

If you cannot find any reference to the information you need, please let us know, as it may be available in some other way.

You may ask for information by making an official request under the Freedom of Information Act.

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Information Management and Protection

Information is a principal asset of the council. This policy is the foundation on which all information-related activity is built. It aims to allow information to be managed and protected from creation or acquisition to destruction or permanent archive, taking into account its security, storage, access, distribution, use, presentation and retention.

The Information Management and Protection Policy and Retention Disposal Schedule are available to view in the Downloads section.