Freedom of Information

Requestor Survey

Have you made an FOI request to a local government body?

The Constitution Unit, a research body at University College London, is carrying out a study of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and its effect on local government. An important part of the evaluation process is gathering the experiences and opinions of FOI requesters like you. Any information you provide will be handled in accordance with the privacy policy explained in the survey.

If you would like to take part in this study, please click the link below to be taken directly to the survey. Contact Ben Worthy at b.worthy@ucl.ac.uk or on 020 7679 4974 to find out more about the study or to speak further about your experiences.

Link to the survey: http://tinyurl.com/yffzxor

Background

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 became law on 30 November 2000, and came into full effect on 1 January 2005. It applies to all information held by public authorities which are subject to the Act, regardless of when the information was recorded. The purposes of the Act are summarised below:

provides a right of access to recorded information held by public authorities
creates exemptions from the duty to disclose information
establishes the arrangements for enforcement and appeal

The Act does not give an automatic right to Council documents or other types of records. Rather it gives a right (subject to any exemptions) to information contained within them. There will be times when only some parts of a document can be made available.

Making your request

The Council already makes available a large amount of information. Before lodging your request try searching on the council's website or in our publication scheme.

If you wish to send an enquiry to Canterbury City Council under the Act then please e-mail foi@canterbury.gov.uk

Your request must include:

Your name
Your address
A description of the information you wish to obtain
Any preferences for the format for receiving the information

What happens when I make a request?

When the Council receives a request for information, we must respond promptly and not later than 20 working days after receiving your request. We will consider your request, and reply. The reply should confirm or deny whether or not we hold the information, and either provide the information you requested, or explain why it has not been provided.

Any charges for copying or research wil be made in accordance with our policy and scale of charges.

What happens if my request is refused?

A request for information may only be refused if:

it is vexatious, voluminous or repeated
if we have asked you for more information in order to meet your request and you have not provided it
if it falls under one of the exemptions

If your request is refused, we will explain why and give you details of how to apply for an internal review of this decision using our comments and complaints system. If, after an internal review, the Council still refuses your request, you may ask the Information Commissioner to review that decision.

In the interests of open government, the council makes public the list of Freedom of Information requests received.

Further information

Use the links below to view more information

Additional information on the The Freedom of Information Act, The Data Protection Act and The Environmental Information Regulations is available from the following websites:

Disclosure Log

Our disclosure log shows details of all requests for information that we have received and dealt with under either the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations since January 2005.

Useful links

Data Protection