Freedom of Information Act Publication Scheme
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities. It sets out general exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities.
Public authorities are defined in the Act and include Further Education institutions such as Otley College.
The Act is intended to promote a culture of openness and accountability amongst public sector bodies by providing people with rights of access to the information held by them. It is expected that these rights will facilitate better public understanding of how public authorities carry out their duties, why they make the decisions they do and how they spend public money.
The Act introduces two new rights and obligations:
- A requirement for public authorities to adopt, maintain and adhere to a publication scheme
- A right for any person to make a request to any public authority for information held by it
The Freedom of Information Act sits alongside the Data Protection Act 1998 and the forthcoming Environmental Information Regulations as the principle mechanism for access to information held by English, Welsh and Northern Irish public bodies.
The Freedom of Information Act is enforced by the Information Commissioner, who oversees both Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation.
Otley College is committed to being open and honest in the conduct of its operations and to complying fully with the Freedom of Information Act. To this end the College will:
- Be open as possible, and will place in the public domain as much information about its activities as is practicable and will make all other information available on request, except for the permitted classes of exemptions.
- Deal with all requests for information in accordance with the Lord Chancellor's Code of Practice on the Discharge of Public Authorities' Functions.
- There will be occasions when the College will not be able to supply all the information requested. Information will only be withheld in accordance with the exemptions laid down in the Act, and in particular those concerning: the College's duties under the Data Protection Act 1998 to keep confidential sensitive information about individual members of staff and students; other legal and contractual obligations; or material detrimental to the safe and efficient conduct of the College's operations or which is commercially sensitive. On such occasions the College will always state the reasons why information has been withheld.
Information is made available by means of a publication scheme. Otley College has decided to adopt the model publication scheme designed for further education. This scheme describes the information the College is publishing, the manner in which the information is made available and any charges that apply.
