Thursday, October 09, 2014

Oakham Town Council ("the Council") has a statutory duty under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Oakham Town Council Oakham Town Council is slowly catching up with the law
This week they finally agreed to recognise another act.

Of course experience of the council and laws does not mean they will comply with them
recognition is a good start. When you consider in May 2010 the Town Clerk described 
the council "it's like a football club" "the laws of the land don't apply to us"

Requests for information
Oakham Town Council ("the Council") has a statutory duty under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) to provide information that it holds to anyone requesting it.
Any such request must be in writing which can be in a letter or by e-mail. The request must also contain the name and a contact address (this can be an e-mail address) of the person asking for the information.
The Council must respond to any such request for information within 20 days and may also make a charge. It may also ask for clarification of the information that has been requested
It is anticipated that, in most cases, any request for information will be dealt with well within the 20 day timeframe.
The Council is not obliged to create information or supply information that is available from another source (for instance Rutland County Council). If this is the case then the person making the request will be informed
However, the Council may also voluntarily provide information it holds outside the provisions of the FOIA but it is proposed that in order to keep a log of such requests these are also made in writing.
General enquiries by the public will still be verbally dealt with if possible.
The Council asks that all requests for information are now made in writing and members of the public may wish to use the form below
Request for information (MS Word, 36 Kb)