Dealing with a Freedom of Information Act request

Anyone has a right to request information from a public authority. You have two separate duties when responding to these requests:

• to tell the applicant whether you hold any information falling within the scope of their request; and
• to provide that information

You normally have 20 working days to respond to a request.

For a request to be valid under the Freedom of Information Act it must be in writing (including by email), but requesters do not have to mention the Act or direct their request to a designated member of staff.  You cannot ignore or refuse a request simply because it is addressed to the wrong person of does not mention the FOIA. Any letter or email to a public authority asking for information is a request for recorded information under the Act.

This doesn’t mean you have to treat every enquiry formally as a request under the Act. It will often be most sensible and provide better customer service to deal with it as a normal customer enquiry under your usual customer service procedures, for example, if a member of the public wants to know what dates and times the parish office will be open, or whether there is a space in the allotments.

The provisions of the Act need to come into force only if:

• you cannot provide the requested information straight away; or
• the requester makes it clear they expect a response under the Act.

This request handling flowchart provides an overview of the steps to follow when handling a request for information and is published by the ICO. 

We recommend that you use our Freedom of Information decision document template for replying to any FOIA request.  This is available in the LALC portal document templates.  

Vexatious/repeated requests can be refused on those grounds but you must have good evidence to support that decision and the requester can seek an internal review and appeal that decision. Read the ICO guidance on their website about what 'vexatious' means in the FOIA law https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/foi-eir-and-access-to-information/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/section-14-dealing-with-vexatious-requests/

The cost limit is £450 applicable to town and parish councils and is based on a rate of £25 an hour so it is 18 hours. 

Some information can be exempt from disclosure but this may also be subject to a public interest test which may override the exemption.  

The decisions you must make is whether the council holds the information and if 'Yes' does it pass the stages to be provided or if it might cost too much to provide without payment, is the information exempt and if it can be provided in what format. Use the above flowchart and the additional information provided on the Information Commissioner's Office website to help you understand the process.  There are time limits that councils must comply with set out in law so act as swiftly as you can in dealing with any request for information or internal review.  Failure to comply may mean the ICO gets involved.

All councils must have a Publication Scheme in place and this will also state how much it may cost to provide certain copies of documents.  One aim of the Publication Scheme is that it specifies the minimum amount of information that will be published on websites and made available to the public free of charge.  Keep your website up to date.  Although a requester may ask for certain information it is possible to state that an exemption applies and does not have to be provided if it is available to the requester by other means (such as on a website). 

LALC recommend that the initial request is considered and dealt with by the Clerk / office staff as it is an administrative task to identify the items requested, complete the FOIA decision template and issue it with the information (where appropriate).

Don't forget to read the Legal Topic Note 37 about Freedom of Information for guidance on how local councils should consider and deal with requests.

The requester has the right to ask for an internal review of the decisions made by the council so if they request an internal review of the original decision that can be handled by the council under its Complaints Procedure and councillors will review the original decision. 

After internal review a further decision letter is issued and if the requester is not satisfied after the internal review then they may approach the Information Commissioner's Office as an appeal. 

The Information Commissioner's Office will contact the council to provide further information to them and they will review the decision and if necessary uphold or revise the decision made by the council.  If a requester is not satisfied by the ICO's decision then they may take their case to the Information Tribunal.