Handling information requests

People have been given rights in relation to information held or used by the Council. These rights can start prior to the collection of the information (for example) data protection and Privacy Impact Assessments and will exist all the time that the Council process (the various rights of access).

Of all these rights, you are most likely to come across a member of the public exercising their rights of access (the right to obtain a copy of information from the Council). Generally, if a member of the public exercises their Rights of Access, we must give out the information unless an exemption or some other restriction on the right applies within deadlines set down in the legislation.

In relation to someone exercising and one or more of their rights including any rights of access, our Information requests compliance policy sets out the council's principles on how we are to deal with these situations. It also explains who is responsible for ensuring that we comply with the legislation.

You can get our policies, guidelines (including procedures) and style letters to be used in connection with responding to people exercising their rights in terms of the UK GDPR or the DPA 2018, EI(S)Rs and FOISA here.