Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Policy
This will follow shortly.
What is The Freedom of Information Act 2000?
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c.36) is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public “right of access” to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) requires all public authorities, including councils, to be open with information. The Act gives a general right to access to all types of recorded information held by the Council. It sets out exemptions from that right and places various obligations upon the Council.
Every public authority must have a publication scheme. The Council does not need to produce its own publication scheme because the ICO has created a model publication scheme that all public authorities must use. Any publication scheme that was created before 1 January 2009 is now out of date and has been replaced by the ICO model scheme.
The model publication scheme
The model publication scheme is a short document setting out the Council’s high-level commitment to proactively publish information. It consists of seven commitments and seven classes of information.
The model publication scheme commits the Council to publish certain classes of information. It also specifies how the Council should make the information available, what the Council can charge, and what the Council needs to tell members of the public about the scheme.
For further details
To learn more about The Freedom of Information Act 2000, please refer to the link below, courtesy of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-freedom-of-information/what-is-the-foi-act/
Data Protection Act
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs theprotection of personal data in the UK.
To learn more about the Data Protection Act, please refer to the link below, courtesy of The Government website:
https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act
Record Management Policy
Records management is an established theory and methodology for ensuring the systematic management of all records and the information they contain throughout their lifecycle.
According to International Standard ISO 15489: 2001, records management is defined as:
The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.
To learn more about the Record Management Policy, please refer to the link below, courtesy the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
https://ico.org.uk/media/1865/records_management_policy.pdf
Information Security Policy
Information Security Policy (ISP) is a set or rules enacted by an organisation to ensure that all users or networks of the IT structure within the organisation’s domain abide by the prescriptions regarding the security of data stored digitally within the boundaries the organization stretches its authority.
