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Freedom of Information Act 2000

Requests for information

The Freedom of Information Act came into full force on 1 January 2005 when applicants were able to exercise their full right to request access to any information the Council holds. Held means information recorded in any format.

If you require information about yourself held by Cumberland Council, this is dealt with under data protection law. Please visit our Data Protection page for more information.

One of the aims of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is that public authorities should be clear and proactive about the information they make available to the public. The Act is intended to encourage organisations to make more information available to the public and to develop a greater culture of transparency and openness.

Local Government Reorganisation

From 1st April 2023, for a transitional period, FOI and EIR requests will still need to be submitted to the former councils' websites.  To submit a request to the former Carlisle City Council please see details below.

Making a Freedom of Information request

For your request to be dealt with according to the Freedom of Information Act, you must:

  • make the request in writing, for example by using our online form, by email or by sending in the request form located in the downloadable documents.
  • give your full name
  • give an address to which we can reply. This can be a postal or email address.

Please be as specific as possible about the information you want.

For advice and assistance on making a Freedom of Information request please email [email protected]

Make an Information Request

Disclosure Log

Until the legacy Information Governance teams are harmonised there are currently 2 Disclosure Logs in operation.  To see responses issued by the former district FOI team for information requested under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) click on the below link. To see responses issued by the former Cumbria County Council FOI team please go to  Freedom of information and environmental information | Cumberland Council

View the Disclosure Log

Prior to 1st December 2020 please see downloadable documents on this page for a list of requests received each year since 2017. If you would like a copy of a response please email [email protected] giving the reference number.

You can visit our Open Data site, where we put our most commonly requested datasets including Business Rates data. Many of the Council's registers are also available to view on our publication scheme page.

  Freedom of Information- FAQ

Freedom of Information Act Fees

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 Fees Order allows public authorities to charge for responding to Freedom of Information Act requests in certain circumstances.

Charging

Where the cost of complying with a written request for information is estimated to be below 18 hours or £450 (the "appropriate limit"), there will be no charge other than the costs of reproducing the information, postage and other forms of transmitting the information as specified below.

You will be issued with a fees notice and must pay the costs specified therein within a period of three months before the council can comply with the request.
 
No charge is made to view information which the council is statutorily required to have available to the general public, or for copies of most of the leaflets, brochures and pamphlets produced by the council.
 

Charges will be made for the supply of specific documents, such as budget books, local plans and electoral registers, as detailed in the council's publication scheme.

Charges where complying with a request would exceed the 'appropriate limit'

The council is not obliged to respond to written request for information where it estimates that the cost of complying with the request would be in excess of £450 or 18 hours (the "appropriate limit"). In such cases the council will discuss with the applicant whether he or she would prefer to modify the request to reduce the cost. In some cases it may not be possible to modify the request to reduce the cost, and so the council is not obliged to comply.
 
Estimating costs
When estimating the cost of complying with a request for information the council will take into account:
  • Determining whether the information is held,
  • Locating the information or a document which may contain the information,
  • Retrieving the information, or a document that may contain the information, and
  • Extracting the information from a document containing it

 

Charges for copying

If you require copies of documents (other than leaflets and brochures available free of charge), a copying charge will apply as per the council's policy - currently 10p per copy.
 

Links

More information regarding fees is available from The Information Commissioner (please see external links) who is responsible for enforcing the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

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