ANNEX 1

DRAFT PUBLICATION SCHEME

1.  INTRODUCTION

The Freedom of Information Act (2000) received royal assent in November 2000 and comes fully into force in January 2005.  The Freedom of Information Act deals with information other than personal information (which continues to be managed under the rules of the Data Protection Act).

As part of the Freedom of Information Act all Local Authorities must have an approved Publication Scheme in place by February 2003.  A Publication Scheme sets out what information the Local Authority publishes or intends to publish as a matter of course, how and when this information will be published, and whether the information is available free of charge or on payment.  Much of the information included in our Publication Scheme is already readily available.  

The purposes of the Scheme are to make sure that a significant and growing amount of information is easily available without the need for individuals to make a specific request, and to encourage a culture of openness within local government.  

2.  INFORMATION ABOUT OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Oxfordshire County Council is a Local Authority with 70 elected County Councillors represent all parts of the County and decide how these services should be managed. They are elected every four years. (The next election Is due in 2005). At present there are 26 Conservative Councillors. 19 Liberal Democrats, 24 labour and 1 Green.

Oxfordshire County Council has responsibility for many local services including:

•	Schools
•	Health and Social Care
•	Fire Service
•	Roads
•	Libraries and Museum Service
•	Trading Standards
•	Land Use
•	Transport Planning
•	Waste Management

3.  NOTES ON USING THE SCHEME

The scheme refers to classes or categories of information that Oxfordshire County Council publishes for use within the local authority and externally.  The scheme is intended to assist the user in finding information.  [The classes of information are based on general classifications and should require no knowledge of the structure of the organisation to navigate around the scheme or alternatively classes of information are based around individual services in order to assist identification of the information by the individual.]  An index is also included at the end of this document to assist you in finding the information you need.

Publication does not refer solely to printed material.  It has been interpreted as widely as possible to include material available on our web site, one-off printed documents from a PC, electronic documents, printed books, reports, and leaflets.  Much of the material listed in this scheme may be found on the Council’s web site or in printed material freely available from the Council.

It is the Council’s intention that as much material as possible will be made available on the Council’s web site on an ongoing basis.

4.  REQUESTING INFORMATION

The timetable for full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is that all local authorities must publish an approved Publication Scheme by February 2003.  The provisions of the Act relating to requests for information will come into force in January 2005. 

Oxfordshire County Council is planning to put straightforward procedures in place for FOI requests once the Act comes into force.  Anyone will be able to make a request for information.  The Act gives applicants two related rights:
•	The right to be told whether the information exists 
•	The right to receive the information (and where possible, in the manner requested, i.e. as a copy or summary, or the applicant may ask to inspect a record) 
subject to certain exemptions which are laid out in the Act.

From January 2005 applicants will be able to exercise their right of access to the information it holds. The Act is fully retrospective.  This means that you can ask for information from before 2005, subject to any exemptions that may apply.
 
There is no charge for making a request for information; however charges may be applied if significant amounts of work or copying of printed material is required.  Charges will be calculated according to Fees Regulations under the Act and will be published as part of the Publication Scheme.

Information may be provided in a variety of formats, e.g. Braille, audio, a language other than English, upon request.

In essence, once the Freedom of Information Act is fully in force, if you have searched the Publication Scheme and cannot find what you are looking for, you can make a request for the information.  It is helpful if you can provide as much detail as possible to enable us to identify accurately the information you require.

It should be noted that even when complete not all information will be covered by the scheme because an exemption may apply.  

5.  NOTES ABOUT THE PUBLICATION SCHEME

Oxfordshire County Council produces a huge amount of information in the course of its day to day business.  Many documents need to go through required approval processes before they can be made available to the public.  In the context of this publication scheme ‘approved’ means that the information or document has been formally approved by elected members under the formal decision making process of the Council, or by officers acting under delegated powers.

Some information within certain classes may be exempt (i.e. information that falls within the definition of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or other relevant legislation as being exempt information).  Where some information within a class is exempt the non exempt information within that class will still be made available.

The aim of this Publication Scheme is to set out:
•	What information Oxfordshire County Council publishes or intends to publish as a matter of course
•	How this information will be published
•	What charges, if any, will be made for the information.  Charges will be highlighted where applicable.  

Responsibility for the Scheme resides with Christopher J. Impey, Monitoring Officer as Proper officer for access to information. It will be reviewed on a regular basis (initially annually at a minimum).