Slough Borough Council: Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act promotes greater openness and accountability across the public sector. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, including local authorities, schools, colleges and universities.

The act was passed on 30 November 2000 and brought into force in January 2005. Slough Borough Council has two main responsibilities under the act. We have to produce a guide to the information we hold which is publicly available (a publication scheme) and we must deal with individual requests for information.

Anyone can make a request for information, although the request must be in a permanent form (eg a letter or e-mail).

If you would like to make a request for information please complete our simple online form.

The Freedom of Information Act gives the applicant two related rights:

The right to be told whether the information exists (the duty to confirm or deny)
The right to receive the information

The council has 20 working days to respond to requests.

There are 23 specific exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act, some of which we are already familiar with under the Data Protection Act. All the exemptions can be seen listed in the publication scheme.

View the Publication Scheme [ PDF ]

For further information regarding the act please contact the policy unit on 01753 875657 or 875658 or e-mail FOI@slough.gov.uk.

For further information on the schools' publication scheme please call 01753 875749.

For general information regarding the act, visit the Information Commissioner website which is the government website responsible for freedom of information.

If you are not happy with the information you receive you can make a complaint.

The complaint should be sent to foi@slough.gov.uk or in writing to

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator,
Town Hall,
Slough,
Berkshire,
SLI 3UQ. This will then be dealt with as a corporate complaint through the Freedom of Information system.

Read our Complaints Procedure [ PDF ]

If you are still not happy after this stage you can make a complaint to:

Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.
Tel: 01625 545 7000.