MERCIA PRIMARY ACADEMY TRUST FREEDOM OF INFORMATION POLICY Adopted July 2018 Introduction The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives individuals the right to access official information from public bodies. Under the Act, any person has a legal right to ask for access to information held by the Trust. They are entitled to be told whether the Trust holds the information, and to receive a copy, subject to certain exemptions. While the Act assumes openness, it recognises that certain information is sensitive. There are exemptions to protect this information. Public Authorities should be clear and proactive about the information they will make public. For this reason, a publication scheme is available on the Trust’s website. This policy does not form part of any individual’s terms and conditions of employment with the Trust and is not intended to have contractual effect. This policy should be used in conjunction with the Trust’s Internet Use Policy and Data Protection Policy. Requests Requests under Freedom of Information should be made to the Trust CEO, Mr Richard Lane. However the request can be addressed to anyone in the Trust; so all staff need to be aware of the process for dealing with requests. Requests for information that are not data protection or environmental information requests will be covered by the Freedom of Information Act: - Data Protection enquiries (or subject access requests) are requests where the enquirer asks to see what personal information the Trust holds about the enquirer. If the enquiry is a Data Protection request, the Trust’s Data Protection Policy should be followed.
MERCIA PRIMARY ACADEMY TRUST FREEDOM OF INFORMATION POLICY Adopted July 2018 Introduction The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives individuals the right to access official information from public bodies. Under the Act, any person has a legal right to ask for access to information held by the Trust. They are entitled to be told whether the Trust holds the information, and to receive a copy, subject to certain exemptions. While the Act assumes openness, it recognises that certain information is sensitive. There are exemptions to protect this information. Public Authorities should be clear and proactive about the information they will make public. For this reason, a publication scheme is available on the Trust’s website. This policy does not form part of any individual’s terms and conditions of employment with the Trust and is not intended to have contractual effect. This policy should be used in conjunction with the Trust’s Internet Use Policy and Data Protection Policy. Requests Requests under Freedom of Information should be made to the Trust CEO, Mr Richard Lane. However the request can be addressed to anyone in the Trust; so all staff need to be aware of the process for dealing with requests. Requests for information that are not data protection or environmental information requests will be covered by the Freedom of Information Act: - Data Protection enquiries (or subject access requests) are requests where the enquirer asks to see what personal information the Trust holds about the enquirer. If the enquiry is a Data Protection request, the Trust’s Data Protection Policy should be followed.
FOI-Policy-2018-2019.docx