The Freedom of Information Act gives a person the right to ask any public sector organisation for all the recorded information they have on any subject.
Anyone can make a request for information – there are no restrictions on your age, nationality or where you live.
If you ask for information about yourself, then your request will be handled under the Data Protection Act, see Subject Access Request.
We have 20 working days to respond to a Freedom of Information Request.
EIR = Environment Information Requests
These requests cover factors which effect the environment and cover a wide variety of things from air quality to the Health & Safety of people.
We have 20 working days to respond to an Environmental Information Request.
However,under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, this can be extended to 40 days if the information is complex and makes it impracticable for us to respond. In some circumstances a fee may be payable and this would be required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.
SA = Subject Access Requests
When a person makes a request for their own information, this is a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act.
One of the main rights which the Data Protection Act gives to individuals is the right of access to their personal information. An individual can send you a subject access request requiring you to tell them about the personal information you hold about them, and to provide them with a copy of that information.
We must respond to a valid subject access request within one calendar month of receiving it.
Proof of Life Requests
The majority of these requests are received from the Police requesting information about a person.
There is no set response time, however we do aim to treat as urgent and respond as soon as possible or respond by their deadline requested.
These requests are treated as confidential.