Under the Freedom of Information Act (“the Act”) it is the duty of every public authority to adopt and maintain a publication scheme. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is changing the emphasis in the approval and operation of publication schemes to a generic model which should be adopted and operated by all public authorities from 1 January 2009.
The model commits a public authority to ‘produce and publish the method by which the specific information will be available so that is can be easily identified and accessed by members of the public’. To help local councils (parish councils, parish meetings and community councils) meet this obligation we have produced template guides to information for them to use. This and the model scheme document itself form the basis of your commitment from 1 January 2009.
A local council will breach the Act if it has not adopted the model scheme and/or is not publishing in accordance with it by this date.
Click on the link to view the Parish Council Insurance document