FOI: background information
The Freedom of Information Act received Royal Assent on 30 November
2000 and came into force on 1 January 2005.
From January 2005, any person or body resident in or outside the
UK, has the right of access to all types of recorded information
held by public authorities, subject only to the limitations imposed
by the Act and other legislation.
The legislation is designed to promote greater openness and
transparency throughout the public sector and applies to all public
authorities, including West Lancashire District Council.
Each public authority must have an inventory, describing all the
general information it holds that is currently made available to
the public, where the information is available from, in what form
and, whether or not it is free of charge. Under the Act, this
inventory of information is called a Publication Scheme.
Prior to publication, every public authority had to seek approval
for its Scheme from the Information Commissioner. The Information
Commissioner is independent and as well as ensuring public
authorities comply with the Freedom of Information Act, is also
responsible for regulating the handling of and access to personal
information about individuals under the 1998 Data Protection Act
and environmental information under Environmental Information
Regulations 2004.
Publication scheme: background
information
Each public authority must have an inventory, describing all the
general information it holds that is currently made available to
the public, where the information is available from, in what form
and, whether or not it is free of charge. Under the Act, this
inventory of information is called a publication
scheme.
Prior to publication, every public authority had to seek approval
for its scheme from the Information Commissioner. The Information
Commissioner is independent and ensures public authorities comply
with the Freedom of Information Act.
Aims of the publication scheme
The scheme aims to:
- say what information we publish, or intend to publish, as a
matter of course
- explain how and where this information is published
- say whether the information is free or if there is a
charge
In preparing this scheme we have taken notice of the sort of
information that people normally ask us for and what they are
interested in.
We have also taken notice of the public interest of disclosure of
information to help the council become more open.
The scheme, generally, is not retrospective. Policies and similar
documents will be removed when they are no longer current.
Information about a certain date will not necessarily be available
through the scheme forever.
Monitoring and updating the publication
scheme
We:
- monitor how well our publication scheme meets the interests of
the public
- assess what people are asking for
- assess what further classes of information may be usefully
published
- update the information we have published
- expect that this publication scheme will be reviewed, renewed
and sent to the Information Commissioner for approval every three
years, or as decided by the Information Commissioner
If you have any comments or suggestions about the publication
scheme please email: freedomofinformation@westlancsdc.gov.uk.
Related information