Freedom of Information: Guidance and Performance

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives you a general right of access to information held by us. Unless the information is subject to one of the exemptions in the act, we will tell you whether we hold the information requested and, if we do, will provide this information to you.

Please be as clear and concise as possible about the information you are requesting. Once you have made your request, you will receive notification of the timescale in which we will respond to you.

If your request relates to any of the services below, please send your request to Gloucestershire County Council.

• Social care (adult and children)
• Education
• Roads / highways
• Libraries
• Public rights of way
• Public transport

Make an FOI request

You must make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in writing.

Make a FOI request 

Our main obligations

• To create, maintain and adopt a publication scheme, which sets out the Classes of information which are held by the public authority which it will routinely make available, how the information can be obtained and whether there are any charges for the information. The Publication Scheme is both a commitment to make certain information available as well as being a guide to how the information can be obtained. The public is entitled to request to see a copy of the ​authority's Publication Scheme.
• From the 1 January 2005, people have the right to request in writing information held by a public authority ("known as the right to know") and each public authority must comply with written requests for the information that it holds unless an exemption from disclosure applies.
  The Council will normally have a maximum of twenty working days to respond to the request. If a request is particularly complex and exemptions may need to be considered, the Council may need additional time to respond to the request and we will keep you informed if any delays are likely to occur.
• All public authorities are required to comply with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and a comprehensive list of the types of organisations, public bodies, local government, central government , and health services and providers which are covered by the Act are set out in Schedule 1 of the Act.
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides a general right to anyone to access information held by a Public Body, subject to the consideration of 23 exemptions. These exemptions are either Absolute or Conditional, the latter also requiring the consideration of a Public Interest Test.

Further information on freedom of information can be found at the Information Commissioner's Office website.

Gloucester City Council has appointed an officer to deal with enquiries relating to the Freedom of Information Act. If you have any specific questions relating to this legislation, Gloucester City Council's Publication Scheme or how to access information please contact the Democratic and Electoral Services Team on 01452 396 204​ or email FOI@gloucester.gov.uk

Freedom of information performance

The information in the table below shows how the council has handled the FOI requests it has received. The data is based on the number of requests where the statutory deadline for responding fell within the time period in question.