It is a requirement under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for all public authorities to produce a Publication Scheme.  In June 2008, the Information Commissioner revised the requirements for a publication scheme and published a model for local authorities to follow which lays out the kinds of information that should be made available to the public.  

The model publication scheme sets out the kinds of information that public authorities should make routinely available.  See ‘Downloads’ to access a list of the types of information which must be included in the Publication Scheme. 

From 1 January 2009 the Council’s website became the Wakefield Council Publication Scheme, therefore information required to be included in the Publication Scheme is published on the website.  It is a requirement that publication scheme information should be easy for the authority and any individual to find and use.  To facilitate ease of use, information will be found listed in the web site A to Z.  For example, to find information on Election Results, click on E in the A to Z, then click on Elections which will take you to a page where Election Results are listed.  Click on Election Results and this will take you to the information.

The circumstances under which an authority would not be required to make information routinely available are:

• If the information is not held
• If the information is exempt from disclosure ie personal data, commercial interest
• The authority cannot easily access the information

The Council’s obligations

The Council must:-

1. Provide hard copies of information where it is requested.
2. Provide the information promptly and within 5 working days.  If the information needs to be viewed in our premises, the requester should be contacted within 5 working days to arrange a mutually convenient appointment.
3. Where a charge is made for the information, the requester should be notified of the charge before information is provided.
4. Set up a complaints procedure which sets out how to make a complaint when information included in the Publication Scheme is not made available.  For complaints in relation to the Publication Scheme, contact the Corporate Complaints Team.  (See "Related links").
5. Set up a procedure for making sure that new documents covered by the Publication Scheme are made available and that any outdated documents are replaced.
6. Review the guide and the operation of the scheme annually.
   

Classes of Information to be Included in the Publication Scheme

There are 7 prescribed classes of information that local authorities must make available as shown in the table in ‘Downloads’.  Further explanatory detail is available in the Definition Document also available in ‘Downloads’.