FREEDOM OF INFORMATION SCHEME
HILL WEST PRIMARY SCHOOL PUBLICATION SCHEME ON INFORMATION AVAILABLE UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000
The Local Governing Body is responsible for maintenance of this scheme. The school will comply with The terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and any subsequent relevant legislation, to ensure all information held by the school is treated in a manner that is fair and lawful.
1.
Introduction: what a Publication Scheme is and why it
has been developed One of the aims of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (which is referred to as FOIA in the rest of this document) is that public authorities, including all academy schools, should be clear and proactive about the information they will make public. To do this we must produce a Publication Scheme, setting out:
2.
The classes of information which we publish or intend to publish;
The manner in which the information will be published; and
Whether the information is available free of charge or on payment.
Data Gathering and Storage
Information will only be gathered and stored for specified purposes. In order to be able to respond to requests for information the school will implement effective records management policies to enable staff to identify whether data is held and, if it is, locate it quickly and easily. Freedom of Information Scheme 7th September 2013
Information held by the school will be regularly reviewed with a view to archiving or destruction, where appropriate.
3.
Categories of information published
Publication Scheme The school will adopt and publish the appropriate model publication scheme, as recommended by the DFE, Information Commissioner and Birmingham City Council, and approved by school governors. The current recommended model schemes can be viewed via the Information Commissioner’s website and any changes will be notified to Birmingham schools by the Learning and Culture Data Protection and Freedom of Information Manager. The classes of information that we undertake to make available are organised into four broad topic areas: School Prospectus – information published in the school prospectus. Governors’ Documents – information published for Governors (Governor Dashboard) and in other governing body documents. Pupils & Curriculum – information about policies that relate to pupils and the school curriculum. School Policies and other information related to the school - information about policies that relate to the school in general.
4.
HOW TO REQUEST INFORMATION
Theoretically any request for information is a request under the Freedom of Information Act, however Birmingham City Council has taken the decision that it will not consider any request that forms part of the normal pattern of work to be a Freedom of Information request. Only those requests which are considered to be outside the normal remit of the service provided will be recorded as Freedom of Information requests. The school will assist applicants in making their request to have access to information held by the school. Freedom of Information Scheme 7th September 2013
Assistance will be given to applicants whose requests need to be transferred to another public authority (eg school, LEA, hospital). The school will exercise its duty to confirm or deny the existence of requested data, subject to any exemptions that may apply. The school will supply data requested within 20 working days (or in line with the Information Commissioner’s current policy during school holidays), subject to any exemptions that may apply, and the estimated cost of complying with the request falling within the current defined charge limit. All requests for information should still be dealt with in compliance with the 20 day deadline, whether they are recorded as Freedom of Information requests or not. If a response will take longer than 10 working days to respond an acknowledgement should be sent to the person making the request, informing them when the information will be supplied. This acknowledgement does not allow the school to exceed the overall 20 day deadline. The charge limit is currently £450, calculated at 18 hours work at a flat rate of £25 per hour, as set by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. If the estimated cost of complying with the request does not exceed this amount the school is not entitled to make a charge for fulfilling the request. A senior member of staff will be responsible for ensuring requests are fulfilled within the stipulated deadline and recording details of the request on the school’s tracking database. Persons requesting data will be supplied with a copy of our complaints procedure. Copies of data supplied should be retained for two years from the date it was put into the public domain. Applying Exemptions A full list of exemptions can be found at the Information Commissioner’s website. There are two types of exemption – absolute and qualified. In practice there are very few which are likely to be applied by the education sector. The decision to apply absolute exemptions should not be taken by individual members of staff but should be made by a constituted group of at least three of the following: Chair of Governors, other governors, Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher.
Freedom of Information Scheme 7th September 2013
The decision to apply qualified exemptions should not be taken by individual members of staff but should be made by a constituted group of at least three of the following: Chair of Governors, other governors, Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher. Even if the group decides information should not be disclosed, a public interest test should be carried out when applying qualified exemptions, to decide whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the objection to disclosure. If it does the information must be disclosed. Advice should be sought from Learning and Culture’s Data Protection and Freedom of Information Manager or Legal Services if there is any doubt as to whether information should be disclosed. Logging Requests Received The school should keep a record of all requests received for monitoring purposes, noting: a) the date the request was received, b) name and contact details of the person or organisation making the request, c) the date the request was fulfilled or refused, d) the reason for any exemption being applied, e) the reason for any failure to meet the 20 day deadline.
If you require a paper version of any of the documents within the scheme, please contact the school by telephone, email, fax or letter. Contact details are set out below. Email: enquiry@hillwest.bham.sch.uk Tel: 0121 308 5392 Fax: 0121 308 5061 Contact Address: Clarence Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B74 4LD To help us process your request quickly, please clearly mark any correspondence “PUBLICATION SCHEME REQUEST” (in CAPITALS please). If the information you’re looking for isn’t available via the scheme, you can still contact the school to ask if we have it.
7.
Feedback and Complaints
Freedom of Information Scheme 7th September 2013
We welcome any comments or suggestions you may have about the scheme. If you want to make any comments about this publication scheme or if you require further assistance or wish to make a complaint then initially this should be addressed to The
Head Teacher, Hill West Primary School, Clarence Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B74 4LD
Signed
A. Staples
Date
7th September 2014
Signed
B.M. Clarke
Date
7th September 2014
Freedom of Information Scheme 7th September 2013
(For the Local Governing Body)
(Head Teacher)