Freedom of Information

The Reuse of Public Sector Information

4. Charges

The Regulations state that when allowing re-use public authorities can make a 'reasonable return on investment'.

In calculating a licence fee the Council will take into account the following:

The Council's intellectual property, ie information that has a commercial value. A charge for this would be determined on a case by case basis.
Charges for staff time. Hourly charge of £25 per hour will be made in respect of the staff time in making the requested information available to the applicant for re-use will be charged in accordance with one of the following rates (these may be subject to revision from time to time) depending on the seniority of the member of staff who is required to manage the request.
Charges for materials. Photocopying (black & white): 10p a sheet (any size); Printing out (black & white): 10p a sheet (any size); Photocopying (colour): 60p a sheet (any size); Printing out (colour): 60p (any size); CDs (if the information is already held electronically): 10p per CD; Microfiche / Microfilm: 10p per frame; Converting to electronic format: Depends on costs charged to the Council; Converting to microfiche or microfilm: Depends on costs charged to the Council

5. Information Asset Register

Where permission for re-use is granted, we must keep a list of the type of information for which permission for re-use has been granted. The list is known as an 'information asset register'.

6. Complaints

The member of the public/the applicant may complain about how the Council has managed their request for re-use, e.g. they may wish to complain about any licence fee for re-use which has been charged.

The complaints procedure set up by the Regulations works in the same way as the complaints procedure under the FOIA, except that the Office for Public Sector Information (OPSI), and not the Information Commissioner, is the ultimate authority to which to complain. The member of the public/the applicant can complain to OPSI only after their complaint has first been sent to the Council (as the authority to which their request for re-use of information was made) and they are not satisfied with the response to their complaint. Please see the Council's FOI complaints procedure.

7. OPSI

Any complaint to OPSI must:

Be in writing.
State the nature of the complaint.
Include a copy of the written notification from us constituting our response to their complaint.
Be lodged with OPSI before the end of 28 working days beginning with the date of receipt by them of our response.

The contact details for OPSI are:

The Standards Division
Admiralty Arch
North Side
The Mall
London
SW1A 2WH