The Freedom of Information Act received Royal Assent on 30
November 2000 and came into force on 1 January 2005.
From January 2005, any person or body resident in or outside the
UK, has the right of access to all types of recorded information
held by public authorities, subject only to the limitations imposed
by the Act and other legislation.
The legislation is designed to promote greater openness and
transparency throughout the public sector and applies to all public
authorities, including West Lancashire Borough Council.
The Information Commissioner is independent and as well as ensuring
public authorities comply with the Freedom of Information Act, is
also responsible for regulating the handling of and access to
personal information about individuals under the 1998 Data
Protection Act and environmental information under Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.
Publication scheme: background information - aims of the
publication scheme
The scheme aims to:
- say what information we publish, or intend to publish, as a
matter of course
- explain how and where this information is published
- say whether the information is free or if there is a
charge
In preparing this scheme, our website, we have taken notice
of the sort of information that people normally ask us for and what
they are interested in.
We have also taken notice of the public interest of disclosure of
information to help the council become more open.
The scheme, generally, is not retrospective. Policies and similar
documents will be removed when they are no longer current.
Information about a certain date will not necessarily be available
through the scheme forever.
Monitoring and updating the publication scheme
We:
- monitor how well our publication scheme meets the interests of
the public
- assess what people are asking for
- assess what further classes of information may be usefully
published
- update the information we have published
- expect that this publication scheme will be reviewed, regularly
or renewed as decided by the Information Commissioner
If you have any comments or suggestions about the publication
scheme please email: freedomofinformation@westlancs.gov.uk.
Related information