COVID-19 Update
Please note that Stratford on Avon District Council's priority is responding to coronavirus and supporting local communities across the Stratford district, providing the help and services needed during this difficult time.
This will impact on the ability of the Council to respond to requests for information within the statutory deadlines, which has been recognised by the Information Commissioner.
However, please rest assured the Council will continue to process requests and will monitor to ensure that in due course they are responded to, with higher priority given to those requests for personal data.
What is it about?
The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2000 establishes a general statutory right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities. The FOI Act sets out exemptions and places a number of obligations on public authorities. The Act applies to many public authorities, including local authorities. Local authorities must:
- Have a publication scheme that provides a general guide to the information they hold and which is publicly available (see the Stratford-on-Avon District Council guide).
- Deal with individual requests for information. The General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018 deals with access to personal information.
FOI does not give you a right to get personal information about you. This is covered by the General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act. To do this, you need to make a subject access request for this information.
Things the Council does
To give you an idea of what information we might have, we provide services covering:
- Payments
- Planning and Building
- Parking, Roads and Transport
- Waste and Recycling
- Sport, Leisure and The Arts
- Council Tax
- Homes and Properties
- Work and Training
- The Council and Democracy
- Benefits and Support
- Environment
- Local Events and Markets
- Licences and Permissions
- Business and Enterprise
- Health Care
- Taxis and Private Hire
- Crime and Nuisance
- People and Communities
Things the Council does not do
We have a listed a few things below that we do not provide services for. If you want information about them, you will need to contact the organisation below who may hold the information.
- Births, deaths and ceremonies - Warwickshire County Council
- Education and Learning - Warwickshire County Council
- Childcare and Social Care - Warwickshire County Council
- Libraries - Warwickshire County Council
- Pedestrian Improvements - Warwickshire County Highways
- Burials - Stratford Town Council
- Allotments - Stratford Town Council
Time limits and charges
The Act provides a time limit of 20 working days for dealing with a request. If you are refused access to information, the council provides a right of appeal to its Monitoring Officer or to the Information Commissioner. We may charge a fee for processing Freedom of Information requests where providing the information you want is particularly time-consuming. The fee is prescribed by law.
Requests for environmental information
If your request for information is environmental in nature, then it will normally be dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), rather than under the FOI Act. Examples of environmental information include information on matters such as planning, public health, pollution, food safety and waste.
How does this all tie in with the Data Protection Act?
There is a statutory right of access (certain exemptions apply) to personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018. The right of access here is to personal data held on computer or on structured manual files and the data subject is entitled to be informed whether any personal data concerning themselves is being held by the "data controller", i.e. Stratford-on-Avon District Council.
How do I submit a Freedom of Information request?
If you wish to submit a Freedom of Information request, please click on the button below, alternatively you can email your request to foi@stratford-dc.gov.uk.
Submit FOI Request
