Freedom of Information

Access to information and Freedom of Information (FOI)

We are committed to the principle of openness and transparency in our work; and seek to publish - in an accessible form - as much information about our functions, decisions and operations as possible.

Freedom of Information

Under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, anyone is entitled to request information. It establishes a general right of access to recorded information held by public authorities, subject to certain exemptions, and places a number of obligations on public authorities. (Note that the FOI Act does not cover requests for an applicant’s personal data. Such requests will continue to be subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act.)

Two of the main features of the FOI Act are:

Individual rights of access come into effect from 1 January 2005. The Act is fully retrospective. Further information can be found from the Information Commissioner’s website and the Department for Constitutional Affairs website.

Our Publication Scheme

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, public authorities must have what is called a ‘publication scheme’, setting out what information they will make readily available and how this information can be obtained.

We have adopted the new model publication scheme introduced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on 1 January 2009. The information in our publication scheme falls into the following six classes of information:

(Please note that the ICO’s model scheme has an additional class of information - ‘The services we offer’. In our publication scheme, information in this class is covered by information already provided in the other information classes).

Further information

To request a copy of OFFA’s Publication Scheme, or for further information contact:

Jean Arnold
Operations and Research Manager
OFFA
Northavon House
Coldharbour Lane
BRISTOL
BS16 1QD
e-mail: enquiries@offa.org.uk 

tel. 0117 931 7171
fax. 0117 931 7083