Freedom of Information Act

Regional Development Agencies

There are nine Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) covering the English regions. Eight were established in April 1999 under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 and are non-departmental public bodies, sponsored by the Department of Trade & Industry. The ninth RDA, the London Development Agency, was created as part of the Greater London Authority under the GLA Act 1999 and has Local Authority status.

The statutory purposes of RDAs are:

• To further economic development and regeneration
• To promote business efficiency, investment and competitiveness
• To promote employment
• To enhance development and application of skill relevant to employment
• To contribute to sustainable development

The aim of RDAs is to be key drivers of economic regeneration. They do this by co-ordinating regional economic development and regeneration - enabling the English regions to improve their relative competitiveness and reduce the economic imbalances that exist within and between regions. The RDAs are not main delivery agents; they work with and depend on regional partners to deliver the agreed output in the Regional Economic Strategy (RES).

Each RDA has developed in conjunction with its partners, an economic strategy for the next 10 years.

On a day-to-day basis the RDA's activities, which are set out in the Corporate Plan and RES, include:

• Working with regional partners (local authorities, local Learning and Skills Councils, the Small Business Service, higher and further education institutions, the voluntary and rural sectors etc) to implement the region's economic strategy.
• Funding physical and social regeneration projects and monitoring those receiving RDA funding to ensure value for money is being achieved.
• Working with businesses and industrial sectors in the region to improve their competitiveness, innovation and productivity and with potential inward investors into the region providing an aftercare service to those already settled.
• Implementing Government policy as set out in White Papers, such as the Urban White Paper, the Rural White Paper and 'Opportunity for all in a world of change'.
• Working with the business and academic community and trade unions to improve learning and skills in the workplace and to develop the region's science base and enable technology transfer to enhance the knowledge based economy.
  

The Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act became law on 30th November 2000. It aims to foster a culture of openness in Government. The Act establishes a right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities and imposes obligations on public authorities to disclose information, subject to a range of exemptions. The Act came into force on 1 January 2004 and One NorthEast became subject to the provisions of the Act.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 individuals already have the right to access their own information held on computer, and in some paper files. The Freedom of Information Act extends these rights to allow access to all types of information which public bodies hold, whether personal or non-personal. However the public body will not be required to release any information to which any of the exemptions in the Act apply. A full list of exemptions can be found on the Information Commissioner's website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

An important feature of the Act is the requirement for each public authority to produce a Publication Scheme. This sets out what information it will publish as a matter of course, how and when it will do so, and whether there is a charge for the information supplied. You can access One NorthEast's Publication Scheme by clicking here.

England's Regional Development Agencies Publication Scheme

As the nine English RDAs have a similar remit and therefore fall within particular classes, a model Publication Scheme was drawn up under sections 19 and 20 of the Act. The purpose of this is to set out:

• The classes of information we commit to publish as a matter of course
• How this information will be published
• Whether this information is available free of charge or on payment
  

The nine RDAs undertake to publish information in their areas of responsibility where:

• Publication is necessary and expedient to support the RDA statutory purposes
• Publication is necessary for the purpose of accountability to Parliament and to the public
• We are required to do so by statute or by Government commitment

This Scheme refers to the classes of information that the eight English RDAs will publish internally and externally. The Scheme provides guidance on how to find information according to its type. Publication does not refer solely to printed material, but includes material posted on RDA websites, one-off printed documents, electronic documents, printed books, brochures reports and leaflets. Much of the material covered by the Scheme is available on the each RDA website as appropriate. Some documents are also available for review in public libraries.

RDAs may not release any information to which any of the appropriate exemptions of the Act apply (in particular those outlined in sections 35 to 43).

Responsibilities

The person with overall responsibility for the Publication Scheme within each RDA and the respective individual who has responsibility for daily maintenance of the Scheme is shown below.

Requesting Information

Information under the Act can be obtained by contacting the named contact as shown below. In some cases a charge for information may be applied. Costs are shown under each of the classes of information in this document. However, you will also be advised of the charge at the time of the request. Depending on demand, a charge may also be levied for sending out printed versions of documents held on the website.

Named contact :
Peter Judge
Head of Legal Services
Information Section
One NorthEast,
Stella House,
Goldcrest Way,
Newburn Riverside,
Newcastle upon Tyne.
NE15 8NY
peter.judge@onenortheast.co.uk
tel: 0191 229 6548

Copyright

If you want to re-use or reproduce our publications for example commercially or for circulation for education/ training purposes - you will in most cases need to apply for a copyright licence.

Complaints Procedure

If an applicant is dissatisfied with the response from the RDA he/she can seek an internal review of that decision. A member of staff who was not involved with the original request will undertake the review. If the applicant remains dissatisfied, because the RDA fails to publish information in accordance with its scheme, he/she can seek an independent review from the Information Commissioner. Individuals will not be able to contest a public authority's use of the exemptions until individual rights come into effect in January 2005.
Requests for a review by the Information Commissioner should be made in writing directly to:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545 700
Fax: 01625 524510

Fees Policy

This policy explains the fees we charge for complying with requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Data Protection Act 1988 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and how we will calculate those fees.
1. Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
Where your request is for information included in our Publication Scheme any applicable charges will be as set out there. Charges for other information will be calculated as follows:
1.1 Estimating Costs
When we receive a request for information we will estimate the costs we reasonably expect to incur in dealing with your request. In making this calculation we will take into account the time our staff (or contractors) spend on the following activities at a rate of £25 per person per hour:

• Determining whether we hold the information requested,
• Locating the information or documents containing the information,
• Retrieving such information or documents,
• Extracting the information from the document containing it.

We will not take into account time we expect to incur on the following when calculating the estimated costs:

• Checking whether the request meets the requirements of the FOIA,
• Considering whether an exemption under the FOIA applies,
• Considering whether the request is a vexatious or repeated request,
• Obtaining authorisation to disclose information,
• Calculating the fee to be charged,
• Any advice or assistance we provide in relation to the request.

1.2 Where the estimated cost is less than £450
If the estimated cost is equal to or less than £450, then we will not charge you for any time our staff spend dealing with or responding to your request. We will only charge you for any ‘disbursements’ we incur in informing you whether we hold the information requested, and communicating that information to you. This will include the costs to us of:

• Putting the information in any preferred format you have requested (for example DVD, CD-Rom, video or audio cassette). We will charge you the actual cost to us of doing this;
• Reproducing any document containing the information (for example printing or photocopying). We will charge you for printing and photocopying at a rate of 10p per A4 sheet, 20p per A3 sheet and £1 per sheet for colour copies.
• Postage and other forms of transmitting the information. Postage and transmission will be charged at the actual cost to us.
  We will waive any charges which are less than £10.
  Our fees will normally be exclusive of VAT. We will only charge VAT if the information you ask for is also available from a source other than a public authority, for example, from a private limited company.

1.3 Where the estimated cost exceeds £450
We are not obliged to respond to requests where we estimate that the cost of complying will exceed £450. If we estimate that the cost of complying with your request will exceed £450 we will try and assist you to refine it to see if it can be brought within this limit.
If following such assistance your request cannot be brought within this limit we will normally decline to respond to your request. This is because we have limited resources to deal with complicated or time-consuming requests. However, in exceptional circumstances we may (at our sole discretion) be prepared to respond to requests which exceed this limit, provided that you pay our charges set out below.
Where we agree to respond to requests which exceed the £450 limit, we will charge you for the time spent by our staff (or contractors) at a rate of £25 per hour on the following activities:

• Determining whether we hold the information requested,
• Locating the information or documents containing the information,
• Retrieving such information or documents,
• Extracting the information from the document containing it.

We will also charge for both the time spent by our staff and any disbursements we incur in informing you whether we hold the information requested, and communicating that information to you. This will include any time and disbursements associated with:

• Putting the information in any preferred format you have requested. 
• Reproducing any document containing the information (for example printing or photocopying).
• Postage and other forms of transmitting the information.

1.4 Fees Notices
Where we propose to charge a fee for responding to a request, we will issue a fees notice first.
The 20 working day period we have to comply with requests will be ‘frozen’ when we issue the fees notice and will only restart when we receive payment of the fee. If you pay by cheque, the period will only restart when your cheque clears.
If you do not pay the fees notice within three months, that ‘cancels’ your request, and we will not have to give you the information you requested.
If the actual cost of responding to your request is more than stated in the fees notice we will bear the additional cost. If the actual cost is less than stated in the fees notice we will refund the excess money to you.

1.5 Related Requests
We may treat two or more requests for information as one single request for the purpose of estimating whether our costs will exceed £450 and for charging, in the following circumstances:

• Where we receive two or more requests for similar information, and
• The requests are received within any period of 60 consecutive days; and 
• Those requests appear to have been made by the same person, or different persons acting in concert or pursuance of a campaign.

2. Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA)
We charge a fee of £10 for responding to ‘subject access requests’ (that is a request for personal data about yourself) under the DPA. We are not obliged to respond to your request until we have received this fee.
If your request is for ‘unstructured personal data’ (that is data about you which is not held on computer or as part of a ‘relevant filing system’) then we are not obliged to, and will not normally, respond to your request if we estimate that the cost of doing so will exceed £450. For details of how we will estimate this cost see ‘Estimating Costs’ above.

3. Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs)
Under the EIRs we are entitled to make a ‘reasonable charge’ for the supply of environmental information. The charges we make in relation to requests under the EIRs are similar to those under the FOIA (described above) but there are a number of differences.
3.1 Estimating costs
When we receive a request for information under the EIRs we will estimate the cost to us of responding to the request in the same way as we do for requests under the FOIA (see above). Time spent by our staff will be calculated at a flat rate of £25 per person per hour.

3.2 Where the estimated cost is less than £450
Where the estimated cost of responding to your request is less than £450, we will only charge you for any ‘disbursements’ we incur in informing you whether we hold the information requested, and communicating it to you. These charges will be calculated in the same way as they are for requests under the FOIA (see above).

3.3 Where the estimated cost exceeds £450
Where the estimated cost exceeds £450 we will respond to your request, but will charge you for both the staff time and disbursements we incur in so doing. These costs will be calculated in the same way as they are for requests under the FOIA (see above).
Again, time spent by our staff time will be calculated at a flat rate of £25 per person per hour. We estimate that this will be no more than the actual cost to us of handling your request, given the level of knowledge and experience required. However, where it is necessary and/or reasonable for us to use the services of a third party to respond to your request, we reserve the right charge you for the actual cost involved, unless we are prevented by law from doing so.

3.4 Fees Notices
Where we propose to charge a fee for responding to a request we will issue a fees notice before responding. The 20 working day period we have to comply with requests will be ‘frozen’ when we issue the fees notice and will only restart when we receive payment of the fee.
If you do not pay the fees notice within 60 working days, we will not be obliged to respond to your request, although you are entitled to make a new application at any time.
If the actual cost of responding to your request is more than stated in the fees notice we will bear the additional cost. If the actual cost is less than stated in the fees notice we will refund the excess money to you.

3.5 When charges will not be made
We will not make any charge for allowing you to:

• Access any public registers or lists of environmental information held by us; or
• To examine information requested at a place which we make available for that examination.

4. Mixed Requests
Where your request includes information which falls under more than one of the access regimes (i.e. the FOIA, DPA and EIRs) we will separate out the constituent parts of the request for the purposes of calculating what fees will be charged.

5. Complaints
If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our complaints procedure.
You can obtain a copy of our complaints form, policy and procedure from:
Head of Legal Services
Legal Services
Stella House
Goldcrest Way
Newburn Riverside
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE15 8NY
Alternatively, you can complete the form on-line at www.onenortheast.co.uk.
If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and reported the outcome to you, you may complain directly to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or via the website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.

6. About this Policy
This Policy was last updated on 27 January 2005 and has been drafted to comply with the legislation and guidance listed below. For further information on our powers to charge fees for the supply of information you are referred to these documents.

• The Freedom of Information Act 2000
• The Data Protection Act 1998
• The Environmental Information Regulations 2004
• The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004
• Data Protection (Subject Access) (Fees and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2000
• The Department of Constitutional Affairs’ Guidance on the application of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
• Code of Practice on the discharge of Public Authorities functions under the Environmental Information Regulations.
• DEFRA’s draft guidance on the Environmental Information Regulations – Chapter 6 Handling requests for environmental information.

This policy will be reviewed and amended from time to time to reflect changes in the law and guidance.