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Access to information
Your Rights to Access Information We are an open and transparent organisation. Much of the information we hold is published, mainly on our website. On 1 January 2005 the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) came into effect. We have a responsibility under the FOIA to provide information in response to any written request, normally within 20 working days. The FOIA is retrospective and therefore applies to records both recent and old. Although we plan to respond positively to most requests for information, the FOIA provides a number of absolute and public interest exemptions to protect the public interest. We will apply these as appropriate. Revised Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) also came into force on 1 January 2005. These provide a right of access to environmental information held by public authorities. 'Environmental information' covers a wide range of areas defined in the regulations. Our duties to provide information under the EIR are similar to those under the FOIA. However, requests for information made under the EIR need not be in writing. The Information Commissioner has confirmed that water companies are also classed as public authorities for the purposes of EIR and are liable to answer requests made under EIR (see the decision in relation to Sutton and East Surrey Water Plc).
How to request information If you would like to request information from us, it would help us to respond to your request if you could please
By post Library & Information Services Ofwat Centre City Tower 7 Hill Street Birmingham B5 4UA By e-mail enquiries@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk Fees – requests made under FOIA We hope to provide most information requested free of charge. When we send you information in paper format, you will be asked to pay photocopying, printing and postage costs. For complex requests we will make charges as set out by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). These are available on their website. If charges apply we will let you know what they will be in advance. Under the MoJ guidance, if we estimate the cost of:
If the estimated cost is less than £600, we will charge for:
Charges for photocopying and postage:
In line with DCA guidance, we will waive fees and charges which are less than £10. Fees – requests made under EIR For information provided under the Environmental Information Regulations there are no cost limits. Our information resources Our publications scheme Our publications Information Asset Register [IAR] This is a list of our unpublished information resources General enquiries E-mail: enquiries@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk Tel: 0121 625 1373 Requests for information we do not hold If you ask us for information we do not hold, we will do our best to direct you to any organisation(s) we think should be able to help you, and to provide you with their contact details. Requests for information we have obtained from a third party If you ask us for information supplied to us by a third party – for example, data we have requested from a water company or from an organisation tendering for a contract - we will apply the FOIA absolute and public interest exemptions as necessary to protect the public interest. For example, section 206 of the Water Industry Act 1991 ("WIA91") normally prohibits the disclosure, without consent, of information with respect to any particular business that has been obtained by virtue of any of the provisions of the WIA91 and relates to the affairs of any individual or any particular business. Such information is exempt from disclosure under section 44 of the FOIA (Prohibitions on disclosure). We will normally inform the third parties before we release any of their information we hold that is not currently in the public domain. Refusal to provide information If we decide not to release the information requested and the applicant is unhappy with our decision, he or she should in the first instance use our internal review mechanism. If, after carrying out an internal review, the original decision is upheld, then the individual has a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner. Useful links Websites
Legislation Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations  |
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