Making Requests for Information
Your Rights
From 1st January 2005 the Freedom of Information Act ("the
Act") establishes a right for any person making a request to a
public authority to be informed in writing whether or not that
authority holds the information requested and, if so, to have
access to that information, subject to exemptions.
Procedure for making requests
When requesting information please do so either by downloading
the “Freedom of Information” application form or by writing a
letter or sending an e-mail. Requests must be in writing and
include the following details:
- your name and address; and
- the information or documents you would like to access
If you have difficulty in identifying the information you
require our staff will be pleased to help you. In the first
instance address your queries to Contact Harlow who can be
contacted by telephone on 01279 446655, by letter or e-mail.
Letters should be addressed to:
Contact Harlow
Harlow Council
Civic Centre
Harlow
Essex
CM20 1WG
To comply with the Act Harlow Council will have an obligation
to respond to requests within 20 working days (subject to
exemptions). A fee may be charged which will be calculated
according to the Fee Regulations. Where a fee is charged, you will
be advised and it will be necessary to pay in advance. If the fee
is not paid within three months of the original request, the
request will be considered lapsed.
Where requests are repeated or considered to be vexatious,
Harlow Council will be under no obligation to disclose the
information requested.
Personal Information
A great deal of the information that we hold is personal and
private to individuals. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 does
not deal with this. The relevant legislation is the Data Protection
Act 1998. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 will not be making
public private and confidential information about people’s personal
Council Tax, Benefits, tenancy, etc arrangements with the Council.
The individual concerned, however, does have access to that
information under the Data Protection Act.
Harlow Council’s Policy
All requests for information will be dealt with in accordance
with Harlow Council’s “
Access
to Information Policy". This Policy is available to
download.
To assist you with the process of applying for information an
Application Form and Guidance Notes are also available.
To view and / or print documents on this page you will need
the Adobe Acrobat Viewer.
You will only have to do this once and as it is used
extensively across the World Wide Web it is quite likely that your
web browser already has it. This is a free application, which can
be downloaded by selecting this link:
Follow this
link to download Adobe Acrobat Reader
Local Government Survey
Have you made an FOI request to a local
government body?
The Constitution Unit, a research body at
University College London, is carrying out a study of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 and its effect on local government. An
important part of the evaluation process is gathering the
experiences and opinions of FOI requesters like you. Any
information you provide will be handled in accordance with the
privacy policy explained in the survey.
If you would like to take part in this study,
please click the link below to be taken directly to the survey.
Contact Ben Worthy at b.worthy@ucl.ac.uk or on 020 7679
4974 to find out more about the study or to speak further about
your experiences.
Click link for access to the
UCL FOI Survey
To contact somebody about this page please use the following
contact details:
Marie Bentley
Corporate Information Manager
Harlow Council
Civic Centre
The Water Gardens
Harlow
Essex CM20 1WG
Tel: 01279 446736