Freedom of Information Act 2000
On 1 January 2005 the Freedom of Information
Act was brought fully into force. This Act was passed on 30
November 2000. It aims to promote openness in government and
establishes a right of access for individuals to information that
the government holds. Under the Freedom of Information Act, public
authorities such as Allerdale Borough Council have an obligation to
disclose as much information as possible to the public, subject to
certain exemptions.
Publication Scheme
The Freedom of Information Act was brought into place in two
parts. The first part is that every public authority must
produce a Publication Scheme. This lays out the information that
the authority has that is currently available to the public. It
states how and where the information can be obtained, and whether a
fee will be charged to obtain the information. The information in
the scheme is grouped into classes and includes paper and
electronic documents, items on the Internet, leaflets and
reports.
At Allerdale Borough Council, the publication scheme is
available through this website or a copy can be obtained through
the Information Officer. There is a link to the Publication Scheme
at the bottom of this page. The publication scheme is currently
available only in English but if it is needed in another language
or format, or if you require a copy of the publication scheme to be
sent to you please contact the Information Officer for
Allerdale.
The publication scheme will be regularly reviewed and more
information will be added as it is published.
Requests for Information
The second part of the Freedom of Information Act was in
effect as of 1 January 2005. This allows the public to make a
request for any information that the authority might hold that is
not available through the Publication Scheme. While some
information is exempt, we will strive to disclose as much
information as possible. In order to make a request for
information, the request does need to be in writing (this includes
fax and email) and included in the request needs to be your name, a
correspondence address, and a clear description of the information
you are requesting. After the Council receives your request, we
have 20 days to respond to it.
In most cases there will be no charge for copies of
information. However, there are a few items in the Publication
Scheme that do incur a charge. Each of these charges is listed in
the Scheme. If the amount of information requested is particularly
complicated or takes excessive staff hours to collect or collate, a
charge could incur. If any charges do apply, we will inform you as
soon as possible.
Allerdale Borough Council will strive to make as much
information available to the public as possible through both the
Publication Scheme and through any individual requests we
receive.
A copy of the Allerdale Borough Council
Publication Scheme can be downloaded further down the page.
Disclosure Log
Are you curious about what has been released so far under the
Freedom of Information Act? Have a look at our disclosure log, a
record of what we have disclosed. The 2006 document will be
regularly updated.
Allerdale Borough Council
