Sandwell Homes operates in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

What Is The Freedom Of Information Act?

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) was passed on 30 November 2000. The Act will be enforced by the Information Commissioner, a new post which came into being on 30 January 2001 and which combines Freedom of Information and Data Protection. Both the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act relate to information handling and the dual role will allow the Commissioner to provide an integrated and coherent approach.

Only public authorities are covered by the Act. These include Government Departments, local authorities, NHS bodies (such as hospitals, as well as doctors, dentists, pharmacists and opticians), schools, colleges and universities, the Police, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the National Assembly of Wales.

It also includes a long list of other public bodies, ranging from various official advisory and expert committees, to regulators and organisations such as the Post Office, National Gallery and the Parole Board. A list is provided in Schedule 1 of the Act.

There is a provision in the Act for other authorities to be named later and for organisations to be designated by the Secretary of State as public authorities because they exercise functions of a public nature or provide a service under a contract which is a function of that authority.

Public authorities will have two main responsibilities under the Act. They will have to produce a Publication Scheme (effectively a guide to the information they hold which is publicly available) and they will have to deal with individual requests for information.

What Is A Publication Scheme?

The Act places a duty on public authorities to adopt and maintain publication schemes which must be approved by the Information Commissioner. One of the aims of the Act is that public authorities should be clear and proactive about the information they will make public. Central to this is the preparation of publication schemes, setting out

The classes of information they publish or intend to publish. The manner in which they will be published, Whether the information is available free of charge or on payment.

Sandwells Publication Scheme refers to all kinds of information, which the Council publishes both for internal use and externally. Publication does not refer solely to printed material. It also includes information in other formats such as electronic documents and CD-ROMs'

What Does The Act Do?

The Act gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities.

Individuals already have the right to access information about themselves, held on computer, and in some paper files, under the Data Protection Act 1998. This is known as the Subject Access Right. As far as public bodies are concerned, the Freedom of Information Act will extend these rights to allow access to all the types of information they had, whether personal or non-personal. However, the public authority will not be required to release information to which any of the exemptions in the Act applies.

Anyone will be able to make a request for information, although the request must be made in writing, which includes e-mails. The request must contain name and address of the applicant and the information sought. The Act gives the applicants two related rights:

To be told whether the information is held by the public authority.

To receive the information (and where possible, in the manner requested, i.e. as a copy or summary, or the applicant may ask to inspect a record).

Public authorities will be obliged to provide information recorded both before and after the Act was passed.

When Does The Act Come Into Force?

The Act will be brought fully into force by January 2005

Responding To Requests For Information

In general, public authorities will have to respond to requests within 20 working days. They may charge a fee, which will have to be calculated according to Fees Regulations. Under the Act, fees may be charged in respect of the time spent in efficiently locating or copying records, based on a standard hourly rate.

No charges may apply in respect of the time spent by the Department in considering requests. If a fee is required, the 20 working days will be extended by up to 3 months until the fee is paid. In cases where information is covered by an exemption, the authority is thenrequired to consider if the public interest in maintaining the exemption in question outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

In cases where information is covered by an exemption, but the authority is then required to consider the public interest in releasing it, the authority must provide the information within a reasonable time.

What Types Of Information Need Not Be Released?

Some of the information held by a public authority may be regarded as exempt information i.e. it will not have to be provided in response to an individual request. There are 23 such exemptions and they relate to information held
for a variety of functions. These include national security, law enforcement, commercial interests, and personal data.

Before relying on an exemption, a public authority will usually be obliged to consider two further points. Firstly, some of the exemptions can only be claimed if the release of the information would prejudice the purpose to which
the exemption relates.

Hence information held in connection with law enforcement can only be withheld if its release would be example, prejudice the prevention or the detection of a crime. Secondly, some of the exemptions also require the public authority to apply the public interest test before making a final decision as to whether or not to release the information.

The public interest test requires a public authority to consider whether the public interest in withholding the exempt information outweighs the public interest in releasing it. Most of the exemptions will require a public authority to consider both the test of prejudice and the public interest test. It should be noted that only the information to which an exemption applies can be withheld. hence if a particular document had been requested which contained some exempt information, only those specific pieces of exempt information could be withheld. The rest of the document would still have to be released.

What Records Does The Council Keep?

Records Management Policy

The Council recognises the importance of good records management practices to ensure:

The rights of the Council, it's employees and citizens

• Open Government
• Accessibility
• Legal compliance
• Accountability
• Support for it's decision making process
• Quality of service

• Education and Lifelong Learning
• Policy and Corporate Governance
• Social Inclusion and Health
• Urban Regeneration

To help the Council decide what records it will keep and for what period of time, it has adopted a Corporate Retention and Disposal Schedule. If you want information about what records the Council keeps, please use the following link: Corporate Retention and Disposal Schedule.

Further Information

Further help, guidance and assistance about the Freedom of Information Act 2000 can be obtained by contacting:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700
Fax: 01625 524510

eMail: mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.ico.gov.uk