FOI, DPA AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS
The Freedom of Information Act 2000(FOI) gives you the right to request information from public authorities, such as the Council. It is intended to promote a culture of openness and accountability amongst public sector bodies and therefore facilitate better public understanding of how public authorities carry out their duties, why we make the decisions we do and how we spend public money.
There is some confusion as to what all the different regulations cover. Brief overviews of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are below.
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) enables you to access personal information regarding yourself e.g. your own education/medical records, credit reference file etc. The DPA is not restricted to information held by/on behalf of public authorities or those bodies carrying out a public function nor is its purpose limited to the right of access to information.
For further information visit our Data Protection Act 1998 page.
The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs) enables you to access environmental information such as information about the air, water, soil or food chain and factors affecting them such as noise, energy and emissions (this is not an exhaustive list). Requests are restricted to information held by/on behalf of public authorities and those bodies carrying out a public function.
For further information visit our Environmental Regulations page.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) enables you to access information which is held by/on behalf of public authorities and those bodies carrying out a public function and which does not fall under either of the two access regimes listed above i.e. personal information or environmental information.
For further information visit our Freedom of Information Act page
Please note:
The Data Protection Act applies to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The Environmental Information Regulations and Freedom of Information Act apply to England Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own FOI (Scotland) Act and Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations, which are overseen by a separate regulator, the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Office.