Freedom Of Information

Using your right to know

Have you ever:

• Wanted to get information from a public authority like RBH?
• Thought they weren't seeing the whole picture?
• Wanted to know why a particular decision was made?
• Had problems getting the information you wanted?

Two laws mean you can get answers. They are:

• Freedom of Information Act 2000
• Environmental Information Regulations 2004  

Together they give you the right to see and get copies of huge amounts of information held by all public authorities, including Rochdale Boroughwide Housing. Please note that your personal details are covered by the Data Protection Act.

However, before making an application please check our Publication Scheme to see if the information is already available to you.

RBH has a duty to provide advice and assistance to you when making a request for information.

How do I make a request?

• First you must contact RBH in writing (this includes by email) and provide your name and an address for a response.  Note: Environmental requests can also be made verbally.

• Describe the information you want as clearly as possible – if your request is too broad or unclear then we may ask you to be more specific and this will cause delay.

• You can express a reasonable preference for the format you wish the information to be supplied in, for example, by email or as a paper copy.

• Once this is done or if you need help, then please contact:

Senior Policy & Performance Officer, Business Support, Floor 2,

The Old Post Office, The Esplanade, Rochdale OL16 1AE

Email: chris.baldock@rbhousing.org.uk Telephone: 01706 273837

Don’t worry!

Don’t worry if you are unsure which law applies to the information you want. Just send your request to the Senior Policy & Performance Officer.

What happens then?

Once we have received your request the clock starts and we have 20 working days in which to reply to you. Generally we try and avoid charging for obtaining information, but should this be necessary we will invoice you. The clock stops until that invoice is paid. Click on the following link to see what can be charged for.

What if the information is refused?

Should the decision be made not to disclose information, then we must specify the reason, and, where relevant, explain our reasons under the public interest test.

If you are unhappy about the way your request has been dealt with, you can lodge an appeal with the Senior Policy & Performance Officer, Floor 2, The Old Post Office, The Esplanade, Rochdale.

The appeal will be given to an officer who has not previously been involved with the handling of the initial request, i.e. in order of preference: the Policy Manager; a solicitor from Legal Services Enforcement Team; the Business Support Director.

Should you still be unhappy with the response then you can contact:

The Freedom of Information Commissioner,

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

Tel:  08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45   Fax:   01625 524510

Freedom of Information (FOI)

The Freedom of Information Act gives you a wide-ranging right to see all kinds of information held by the government and public authorities and this includes RBH.

You can use the Act to find out about a Council housing problem affecting your community and how it is being dealt with; to see how effective a policy has been; to find out about RBH’s spending on specific repairs; to check whether RBH is doing what it says it is and to learn more about the real reasons for decisions.

Back to top

Environmental Information

If the information you want relates to the environment, your request will not be dealt with under the FOI Act but under new Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs). These implement a European Union directive and provide a stronger right of access than the FOI Acts.

The definition of “environmental information” is surprisingly wide. It includes information about the state of the air, water, land, natural sites and living organisms including genetically modified organisms. It covers emissions or discharges to the air, water or land including energy, noise and radiation. Information about legislation, policies, plans, activities, administrative and other measures likely to affect any of these or intended to protect them is covered. So are assessments of the costs or benefits of such measures and reports on the implementation of environmental legislation. To the extent that any of these factors affect human health or safety, food contamination, living conditions, built structures or cultural sites, the information about these matters is also environmental information.

Back to top

Personal Information (Data Protection Act)

Your rights to see personal information held about you by public authorities have also been strengthened. The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) already entitles you to see many kinds of personal information about yourself, whether held by public or private bodies. This law has now been amended by the FOI Act to improve your rights to see personal information held by public bodies. The right to information held by private bodies has not been affected. The UK Information Commissioner enforces this right across the whole of the UK.

Back to top

Costs

Most of the information included in the Publication Scheme is available free of charge, although we reserve the right to charge where significant amounts of photocopying or work may be involved.

If the overall cost to RBH to answer your request exceeds £450, we may not be able to provide this information. However, we will contact you to see if you can simplify your request.

Back to top

Public Interest Test

The Freedom of Information Act presumes that information will be made available, however there are a number of exemptions. Some of these exemptions are subject to a public interest test, which means that a judgment has to be made as to whether in any particular case it serves the interests of the public better to withhold or to disclose information.

For instance: Repairs staff absentee rates might be considered commercial information, but this might be outweighed by the ‘public interest’ to tenants as it can effect how soon their repairs are done.

Back to top