Your Rights and Our Responsibilities

Our Publication Scheme

Under the FOI Act all public authorities, including Lancashire Police Authority, must have a Publication Scheme setting out the information we routinely make publicly available. The Information Commissioner approved our Scheme in June, 2003. When we adopted our Publication Scheme and when we review it, we are required to have regard to the public interest in:

• Allowing public access to information we hold and
• to the publication of reasons for the decisions we make.

Our publication scheme must:

• Set out the classes of information which we publish or intend to publish;
• Say how we will publish the information in each class; and
• Say if we will provide the information free or charge for it.

The purpose of our Publication Scheme is to let you know what information is readily available from us without your needing to ask us for it. By readily available we mean that the information will, in due course, be available on our website; can be obtained from us if you request it by letter, e-mail or telephone call; can be purchased from us; or can be found in a local library.

Part 2 of our Publication Scheme sets out the classes or types of information that we publish or intend to publish.
Part 3, our list of publications, supports the Publication Scheme. It lists specific publications we make available, how they can be obtained and whether they are free or if we will ask you to pay a charge.

Our Publication Scheme is available and can be viewed, together with some of our publications, in the publications section of the website.

Requests for Information not set out in the
Publication Scheme

From the 1st January, 2005, you have a right of access to recorded information held by public authorities, subject to certain exemptions.

If you write to us requesting information and providing a correspondence address, we are required to:

• Let you know in writing whether we hold information you have asked for; and
• if we do, provide the information to you within 20 working days, unless it is subject to an exemption.

We also have a duty to provide advice or assistance to you or anyone seeking information (for example in order to explain what is readily available or to clarify what is wanted).