How to Make a Request
If we have already published the information you want, it
will be listed in our Publication Scheme, and
available on our website. Checking the Scheme before you make a
request may save you time.
Our officers will be able to identify requests under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), so you don't need to
specify which legislation your request is under.
You must include an address (e-mail or postal) so that we
can correspond with you further.
If you have a specific requirement regarding the format of
the information, please let us know. Where reasonable, we will
supply the information in the format you request.
We receive most requests by email. Emailed requests should
be sent to FOI@southsomerset.gov.uk.
You may also write to the Support Services
team:
Support Services, SSDC Central Offices, Brympton Way,
BA20 2HT
Management of Your Request
Typically, requests must be answered within 20 working days of
receipt, (where the first working day after receipt is the
first day to count toward the deadline); but deadlines may be
extended in the following circumstances:
- The request is under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
and a 'public interest test' is being conducted; or
- The request is under the Environmental Information Regulations
2004 (EIR) and the request is complex and involves lots of
information.
In any case, the responsible officer will inform you why a
deadline is being extended, and by how long (this will be 20 days
except in very unusual circumstances).
Your request will be assigned a responsible officer, and this
officer will communicate with you on behalf of the Council about
all issues relating to your request, until the request is closed or
transferred.
Requests (or in some cases, certain parts of requests) may be
transferred to another officer who will then become the responsible
officer. If this is the case, you will be notified.
If it is clear that your request is outside the scope of the
legislation, we will explain why.
If your request is entirely unclear, we will ask you to clarify
it; the deadline will be reset when clarification is received.
If all the information you have requested has already been
published, we will notify you and direct you to the published
information.
Otherwise, we will acknowledge receipt of your request if you
ask us to, or if it would otherwise be reasonable to do so,
including in the following circumstances:
- When any part of your request is unclear. In which case we will
also ask you to clarify, and the deadline for compliance (for
only the unclear part of the request) will be reset when
clarification is received.
- When any part of the requested information has already been
published. In which case we will also direct you to the published
information.
We may refuse to disclose some of the requested information, or
refuse to confirm or deny that it is held. In either case, we will
explain why the information is exempt and if applicable, why
disclosure was not considered to be in the public interest. An
introduction to the commonly exempt types of information is
provided in the Information We Won't
Disclose section.
If the information is to be communicated, we may issue a charge,
which will be calculated in accordance with the Applicable Fees and
Charges Section. Other issues relating to charges are also
considered in that Section.
Whenever reasonable, we will disclose requested information
in electronic, editable formats, and we will use a format and file
type you request when reasonable.
If you would prefer, or if it is necessity, documents may be
made available for inspection in person; in such cases we will make
arrangements for this to happen as soon as possible.
We will tell you when we consider your request to be answered,
and will provide information about avenues of redress if you are
not satisfied with the management of your request.
Information We
Publish
The Council has adopted the Model Publication Scheme for local
authorities, as recommended by the Information Commissioner's
Office. A summary of the information we
publish under each class defined by the
model scheme is available here.
Environmental
Information
Environmental information held by the Council is under the scope
of the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). 'Environmental
information' means any information on:
a) the state
of the elements of the environment, such as air and atmosphere,
water, soil, land, etc, and the interaction among these
elements;
b) factors,
such as substances, energy, noise, radiation, waste, etc, likely to
affect the elements of the environment in (a);
c) measures
(including administrative measures), such as policies, plans, etc,
and activities likely to affect the elements and factors in (a) and
(b) as well as measures or activities designed to protect those
elements;
d) reports on
the implementation of environmental legislation;
e) economic
analyses and assumptions related to the measures and activities in
(c); and
f) the state
of human health and safety, inasmuch as it may be affected by the
state of the elements of the environment in (a) or, through those
elements, by any of the matters in (b) and (c).
Broadly speaking, the EIR apply to information under a greater
range of circumstances and provide fewer circumstances under which
requests can be refused.
We will tell you whether your request is being dealt with under
the FOIA or the EIR; this may affect the management of the request
in the following ways:
- Whilst both legislations include in their
scope information held on the Council's behalf by third
parties, the EIR may also include information held by the Council
on behalf of third parties.
- Requests under the FOIA can be refused if they are 'repeated',
'vexatious' or 'excessively costly', but requests under the EIR can
be refused if they are 'manifestly unreasonable', which can be
thought of as a combination of these criteria (repetitiveness,
vexatiousness, and costliness).
- Requested information under the EIR can only be withheld if it
is exempt and if withholding it is in the public interest. On the
other hand, some exemptions under the FOIA are 'absolute', meaning
that the information caught by them can be withheld without
considering whether doing so is in the public interest.
- The ordinary deadline (of 20 working days) to answer a
request under the EIR can be extended by 20 additional working days
if the request is complex includes a lot of information.
- Fees charged under the EIR may include the costs of staff time
spent dealing with the request. Staff time may not be charged under
the FOIA, except in extraordinary circumstances.
Information We Won't
Disclose
Exemptions from disclosure are set out in Part II of the FOIA
and Section 12 of the EIR. Detailed guidance on all exemptions
under the FOIA and
under the EIR is provided by the Information Commissioner's
Office. The most common reasons that the Council will withhold
information are introduced below.
Personal data about any person is unlikely to be disclosable
under an FOIA or EIR request. If you would like to request personal
data about yourself you must submit a Subject Access Request (SAR)
under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA); advice on doing this is provided here.
(Non-environmental) information which is 'reasonably accessible'
by other means may be exempt under the FOIA.
A request under the FOIA may be refused entirely if:
- It would cost the Council over £450 to comply with it, where
staff time is calculated at £25 per hour (an excessively costly
request);
- It is identical or substantially similar to a previous request
from the same applicant (a repeated request); or
- The purpose and value of the request (to any section of the
public) is insufficient to justify the distress, disruption or
irritation that would be incurred by complying with it (a vexatious
request).
A request for environmental information may be refused if its
purpose and value (to any section of the public) is insufficient to
justify the distress, disruption, irritation or cost that would be
incurred by complying with it (a manifestly unreasonable
request).
Other information may be exempt or excepted if it is
confidential, or its disclosure would prejudice the commercial
interests of any person.
Applicable Fees and
Charges
Ordinarily the Council will waive any applicable fees for
requests made by journalists or by citizens who appear to be making
requests for non-commercial purposes, except under the following
circumstances:
- The request is under the FOIA, and the fee is over £10;
- The request is under the EIR, and the fee is over £20;
- The information is available from an alternative source (and
the applicant is aware of this); or
- The total cost incurred by the Council over the last six
months, responding to requests made by the applicant, or the group
of requesters with whom the applicant is working, is greater than
£150.
We will not waive fees for requests made for the advancement of
commercial interest, or by solicitors on behalf of clients.
VAT is chargeable on fees for information available by
alternative means, except when it is only available by requesting
it form a(nother) Public Authority.
If we charge a fee we will notify you, explaining how it was
calculated and by what date it must be paid (you have 90 calendar
days to pay a fee).
If we charge a fee we will not begin processing your request
until it is paid.
All payable fees are estimates, but when we process your request
after a fee is paid, we will calculate the actual fee that would
have applied in retrospect, and explain how it was calculated.
If the retrospective fee is less than the one we charged you,
we'll refund the balance.
Standard costs:
|
|
|
| A4 Black and White |
10p per sheet |
| A3 Black and White |
20p per sheet |
| A4 Colour |
50p per sheet |
| A3 Colour |
£1 per sheet |
|
Photo quality paper prints
|
£1 per sheet
|
|
|
|
|
CD-ROM
|
£1
|
- Applicable postage costs will vary depending on circumstances,
but will not exceed the costs incurred in posting; we will
use 1st Class post, unless you request
otherwise.
- Staff time is chargeable for all requests under the EIR and the
Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 (RPSI). We
charge staff time at £25 per hour, and we charge for fractions of
hours (instead of rounding up).
Complaints and Review
If you believe that any part of your request was not
answered by the responsible officer (by refusal, denial or
disclosure) you should notify them. If the officer agrees with your
judgement they will amend the problem; if they disagree they will
advise you to either submit a new request, specifying the
information you desire, or submit a formal complaint which may
trigger an internal review.
You should complain whenever you are dissatisfied about
how we are performing our freedom of information, transparency, or
re-use of public sector information, duties. But we will only
conduct an internal review of a decision we have reached in the
management of an FOI request or a request for re-use (under the
Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015). And only
when we have answered the request (including when we have refused
it) and 6 months have not passed since the answer.
Wherever practical, internal reviews will be conducted by
officers in the Legal Team not involved in the decision making
process which gave rise to the matter under review. We aim to
complete internal reviews within 20 working days of complaint. The
officers conducting the internal review will address all relevant
concerns raised and inform you of the decisions reached.
You may also appeal to the Information Commissioner's
Officer (ICO). This is recommended if you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of an internal review. The ICO is unlikely to consider
appeals when the appellant has not exhausted the Council's internal
complaints procedure. You can call the ICO helpline on 0303 123
1113, or visit their
website for more information on how to make
contact.
More Sources of
Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Environmental Information Regulations 2004
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004
The Code of Practice for Public Authorities'
functions under the FOIA, published by the Secretary of State for
Constitutional Affairs (now 'the Secretary of State for
Justice')
The Model Publication Scheme, published
by the Information Commissioner's Office
The index of all guidance published by the
Information Commissioner's Office
The 'For the Public' page of the Information
Commissioner's Office's website