The Freedom of Information Act 2000 received Royal Assent on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities, which includes the Council.
Any person who makes a request to the Council for information must be informed whether the Council holds that information and, subject to exemptions, supplied with that information. Freedom of Information Request Statistics.
A Publication Scheme is a guide to the information Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council routinely publishes or intends to publish routinely. It is intended that, by outlining the types of information the Council holds, the scheme will assist the public’s understanding of what the Council does and the services it provides.
This document will also assist the public in formulating requests for information.
Where the Council receives a request for information that is, or forms part of a dataset, the Council must release that information in a reusable format. A 'dataset' means information held in electronic form where it has been gathered for the purposes of carrying out Council services or functions and is in its raw format. Usually this will be in the format of a spreadsheet or similar.
The Council will publish any datasets that have been released in response to an information request. The most popular spreadsheets will be updated on a regular basis.
Information regarding how often the information will be updated will be located within each individual spreadsheet e.g. monthly, half yearly or yearly.
