The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives you the right to request information from any public authority. It promotes openness and accountability among public sector organisations, so that everyone can understand how authorities make decisions, carry out their duties and spend public money. There are some exemptions to this general right of access and these are known as ‘absolute exemptions’ and ‘qualified exemptions’. If a qualified exemption applies, then it is subject to the public interest test. This means we must decide whether in each case it serves the public interests better to withhold or to disclose the information requested
The act gives you a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by us. You can view our statistics for responding to FOI requests in the download section below.
The Freedom of Information Act also says we must maintain a publication scheme which sets out what information we routinely make available, how the information can be accessed and whether we will make a charge to provide it. The idea of a publication scheme is to try and make sure as much information as possible is freely available and easy to access so you do not need to make a specific request. You can download the publication scheme from below.
If you want to make a request for information under the act it must be in writing, contain a name and address for correspondence, and describe the information you are seeking.
Requests can either be emailed using the contact us form below or can be sent by post to:
A76/Freedom of Information Requests
Property, Finance and Technology
Legal, Licensing and Registration
Civic Hall
Leeds LS1 1UR
