Decision details

The Cabinet had before it a * report of the Head of Customer Services seeking to review and update the Freedom of Information Policy (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

The Cabinet Member for the Working Environment and Support Services outlined the contents of the report stating  that since 1^st January 2005 all requests for information received by a public authority have had to be answered in accordance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). The only exception to this was a request for personal information where the individual could request their own personal data, called a Subject Access Request (SAR). The main principle behind FOI legislation was that people had a right to know about the activities of public authorities, unless there was a good reason for them not to. Access to information helped the public hold public authorities to account for their actions and allowed public debate to be better informed and more productive. Access to official information could also improve public confidence and trust if government and public sector bodies were seen as being open.

Consideration was given to:

·         The cost of running the service

·         The need for open data sets to be increased on the website so that more information was available to the public which may decrease the number of FOI requests.

RESOLVED that the updated policy be approved.

(Proposed by Cllr Mrs M E Squires and seconded by Cllr C R Slade)

Note: - *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.