A Publication Scheme provides the public with a guide to the classes of information that the Council publishes or intends to publish routinely as part of our normal business activities.
This Scheme applies to all the information the Council has chosen to publish whether it is available in electronic or printed form and incorporates the information made publicly available on the Council’s website as well as information in, for example, public registers that may only be available by way of inspection.
The purpose of our publication scheme is to be a means by which we can make a significant amount of information available routinely, without waiting for someone to specifically request it. The scheme supports our view to publish more information proactively and to develop a greater culture of openness and transparency.
The Council has adopted the Information Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme. By adopting the Model Scheme the Council is committed to:
- proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, the information, which is held by the Council, in line with the statements contained within this scheme including environmental information;
- specify the information which is held by the Council falling within the classifications below;
- produce and publish the methods by which the specific information is made routinely available so that it can be easily identified and accessed by members of the public;
- review and update on a regular basis the information the Council makes available under this scheme;
- produce a schedule of any fees charged for access to information which is made proactively available;
- make this publication scheme available to the public;
- publish any dataset that has been requested, and any updated version the Council holds, unless we are satisfied that it is not appropriate to do so; to publish the dataset, where reasonably practicable, in an electronic form that is capable of re-use; and, if any information in the dataset is a relevant copyright work and the Council is the only owner, to make the information available for re-use under a specified licence;
- ensure the public is informed whether a specified licence for the re-use of copyrighted material owned by the Council involves a charge and where requested, how the charge has been calculated.
What are the classes of information?
- Who we are and what we do
- What we spend and how we spend it
- What our priorities are and how we are doing
- How we make decisions
- Our policies and procedures
- Lists and registers
- The services we offer
A guide to information, specifying what information we publish is available here.
Guide to information we publish
The above classes of information will not generally include:
- Information the disclosure of which is prevented by law, or exempt under the Freedom of Information Act, or is otherwise properly considered to be protected from disclosure;
- Information in draft form;
- Information that is no longer readily available as it is contained in files that have been placed in archive storage, or it is difficult to access for similar reasons.
Some information may only be available in printed form and some information will only be available for inspection. Where this is the case, this will be made clear on the Council’s website.
The Council includes as much information in the Publication Scheme as it can.
If you cannot find what you are looking for you can make a request for the information that is not published under this Scheme. Details of how to make a request can be found here.
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
Individuals have the right of access to information about themselves under UK Data Protection laws (General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, Data Protection Act 2018). Find out more at Your data matters on the ICO website. As far as the Council is concerned, the Freedom of Information Act extends the right to allow public access to most other types of information held.