Freedom of information

Any written request for information will be regarded as a request for recorded information under the Act unless:

• The information can be dealt with as a normal customer enquiry.  The request will then be dealt with under the usual customer service procedures.
• It is a request for personal data relating to the individual requesting the information. Such requests are dealt with under data protection legislation. We will process the request according to our data protection policy (subject access requests).
• If the request is for environmental information, we will consider it under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

We will only accept requests in writing, for example, via:

• online form
• letter
• email
• fax
• social media

We will:

• respond to a request for information within 20 working days of receipt
• clarify ambiguous requests with the requester

We will not:

• refuse a request for information because the recorded information is out of date, incomplete or inaccurate.
• make any changes or deletions to records because of a request.

Refusing a request

We will consider refusing a request for information if:

• it would cost too much or take too much staff time to deal with the request
• the request is vexatious
• the request repeats a previous request from the same person

We will consider refusing a request for information if the request meets an exemption under the Act. We may also refuse to confirm or deny whether we hold information where the Act allows.

We may seek legal advice where appropriate before refusing a request.  We must ensure that our grounds for refusal are robust.  Justification will be required should the refusal be challenged.

A written refusal notice shall be issued to the requester if we:

• refuse to say whether we hold information at all
• confirm that information is held but refuse to release it