Most of the information you need from government, the local council and other public bodies is likely to either already be published or available by talking to officials about what you need and why. If you have been unable to get hold of information held by public authorities, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request may help.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is based on the principle that people have a right to know about the activities of public authorities unless there is a good reason for them not to. The Act applies to any ‘recorded information’ that is held by a public authority in England. That includes: government departments, local councils, the NHS, state schools and the police. The Act does not necessarily apply to every publicly-funded organisation that receives public money. You cannot request personal information using the FOI Act. (You are entitled to see personal information that is held about you under a separate law - the Data Protection Act). See the link for more detailed background of what is and isn't covered by the Freedom of Information Act.
What you Need
You need a clear idea of what it is you want to find out.
You need some means of communicating with the public authority you believe can help. You can use email or a letter, but Freedom of Information requests should be made in writing.
How to do It
To make a freedom of information request, you should:
- contact the relevant authority directly
- make the request in writing, for example in a letter or an email
- give your real name
- give an address to which the authority can reply.
Before you make a request, however, you might want to do the following:
- check thoroughly to see whether the information you want or information sufficiently close to it is already published by the authority or somewhere else
- check below to see if who you are requesting the information from is actually covered by the Freedom of Information Act and needs to respond (thousands of requests each year are sent to organisations which are not required to respond)
- check whether the information you are requesting is likely to be covered or may be exempted; and whether releasing the information in the form you have requested is likely to be considered as being against the public interest (requests may be turned down inthese grounds)
- talk to officials within the authority, if you are able to get their advice and assistance - either to get hold of information that might serve your purpose with issuing an FOI request, or to get help to in wording an FOI if you decide you need to.
Examples and Case Studies
You can look at examples of FOI requests and associated documentation online, for example:
- this request for information from Bristol City Council about incidents of fly tipping
- this request for information from Manchester City Council about empty council houses
- this request for information from the Department for Communities and Local Government on disposals of allotment land
on the mySociety Freedom of Information request portal WhatDoTheyKnow.com. This website has been up and running since 2008. About 350,000 FOI requests have been made using the site. That is about 1 in 5, or 1 in 6, of all FOI requests made in the UK.
| Checklist
Do Your Research - check what information you really need including how you need it broken down and for what years etc. and check that it is not published somewhere already. Remember the FOI Act applies to 'recorded information'. Organisation - you should send your request to the right public authority. It doesn't matter if you don't know the name of the person within the authority to write to. Remember, the FOI Act only applies to public authorities and to certain organisations carrying out work on their behalf. Request in writing - if you send your request as a letter, keep a copy. You can make requests via websites such as What Do They Know which will ensure copies of correspondence are kept. Name - you should give your real name. If you use an obvious pseudonym, the authority may ignore your request and you will then have difficulties following your request up (because it will be hard to prove you are the 'Mickey Mouse' or 'Doctor Who' in question). You can give a version of your name (a previous surname if you have one, for example) or use the name of an organisation, or get someone else to submit the request for you in their name. Address - you need to include an address, otherwise the authority will not be able to reply to you. 'Address' includes an email address: you do not need to give your physical street address. If the document you have asked for is very long and only available as a hard copy (that is, in paper form), then it is probably reasonable for the authority to request a physical address to send it to. You can, however, still give an address 'care of' someone else, if you would really rather not give your own personal information. |
|---|
BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT METHOD SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.
| created: 2016-07-25 16:04:31 | by: admin | status: f published |