Freedom of Information Act (FOI)

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is intended to promote a culture of openness and accountability amongst public sector bodies including North Norfolk District Council by providing people with rights of access to the information held by them. It is expected that these rights will facilitate better public understanding of how public authorities carry out their duties, why they make the decisions they do and how they spend public money.

The Freedom of Information Act enables people to gain access to information held by public authorities in two ways:

• From 1 January 2005, people will have the right to make a request for any information held by a public authority (although this right is subject to a number of exemptions which permit the withholding of information) and the authority will have to comply with the Act in responding within 20 working days.

• Prior to that, in the run up to January 2005, every public authority must make some information available as a matter of course through a Publication scheme, with information included in the publication scheme being routinely made available to anyone who consults it. A publication scheme is both a public commitment to make certain information available and a guide to how that information can be obtained.

Freedom of Information Act Contents

FOI Publication Scheme |

FOI Policy Statement 2004 (reviewed 2006) |

FOI Records Management Policy |

FOI Access to personal information |

FOI Charges |

FOI Contact/Complaints |

FOI Environmental Information |

FOI - How do I request information? |

FOI - How we make the information available |

FOI - What Information does the Publication Scheme cover? |

FOI - Re-use of Public Sector Information |