Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities. Any person who makes a request to a public authority for information must be informed whether the public authority holds that information and, subject to exemptions, supplied with that information.
The Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 received royal assent on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities. A ‘public authority’ is defined in the Act, and includes but is not restricted to central and local government, non-departmental public bodies, the police, the health service and schools, colleges and universities. Any person who makes a request to a public authority for information must be informed whether the public authority holds that information and, subject to exemptions, supplied with that information.
Your rights and our responsibilities from June 2003
Under the FOI Act all local authorities including the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner in Devon and Cornwall must have a publication scheme setting out the information we routinely make publicly available. Our scheme must be approved by the information commissioner and we have to review the scheme from time to time. In adopting (or reviewing) our publication scheme, we are required to have regard to the public interest in:
- allowing public access to information we hold; and
- to the publication of reasons for the decisions we make.
Our publication scheme must:
- set out the classes of information which we publish or intend to publish;
- say how we will publish the information in each class; and
- say if we will provide the information free or charge for it.
The purpose of our publication scheme is to let you know what information is readily available from us without your needing to ask us for it. By readily available we mean that the information is available on our website; can be obtained from us if you request it by letter, e-mail or telephone call; can be purchased from us; or can be found in a local library.
Part 2 of our publication scheme sets out the types of information that we publish or intends to publish, how they can be obtained and whether they are free or if we will ask you to pay a charge. If you have any comments on our Publication Scheme or feel that the scheme could be improved, please contact us. If you think we have not supplied information in accordance with our scheme, then you are entitled to complain. Information about how to do so can be found here. We aim to deal with your complaint within 20 working days. If you are dissatisfied with the response you can ask for the matter to be internally reviewed. We aim to complete an internal review and respond to you within 20 working days. If, after the internal review, you remain dissatisfied then you can complain to the Information Commissioner. You can find our review procedure here.
Your rights and our responsibilities from 1 January 2005
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 gives you a right of access to recorded information held by public authorities, subject to certain exemptions. The FOI Act applies to the vast majority of public authorities, including the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in Devon and Cornwall. When the FOI Act came into force fully on 1 January 2005, if you ask us for information we will be required to:
- let you know in writing whether we hold information you have asked for; and
- if we do, provide the information to you within 20 working days, unless it is subject to an exemption. We also have a duty to provide advice or assistance to you or anyone seeking information (for example in order to explain what is readily available or to clarify what is wanted).
Full access rights under the Freedom of Information Act came into force on 1 January 2005.
Information about how to make a freedom of information request, and our associated processes and service standards can be found here.
Requests for personal information
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have a statutory rights relating to your personal data that we process. Please go to our Data Protection pages for more information.
Requests under the environmental information regulations
Information about how to make a request under the environmental information regulations (EIR) and our associated processes and service standards can be found here.