Requesting information

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives you the right to ask for - and be given - information we hold. We already publish many data sets as a matter of course, including information about non domestic rates.

View Rugby Borough Council open data 

The Act does not give you a right to get personal information about you. That is covered by the Data Protection Act and you need to make a subject access request for that information.

Which council does what?

Before submitting a Freedom of Information request to Rugby Borough Council, please check that the council is likely to hold the information you would like. Many information requests should be sent to Warwickshire County Council or to other agencies, and not to Rugby Borough Council at all.

Requests that should be made to Warwickshire County Council

Requests relating to:

  • adult and children's social care
  • highways and transportation
  • potholes and road improvements
  • schools, education, training

should all be sent to Warwickshire County Council.

 

Making a request

Before submitting a request, check we don't routinely publish the information you want in our Open Data section. If you would like to make a Freedom of Information request, please use our Freedom of Information request form.

When we receive your request we will write to you to let you know.

When making your request, you must include:

  • Your name
  • An address where you can be contacted (either postal or e-mail)
  • A detailed description of the information you want

We will tell you if you have to pay anything. Most requests are free and we will send our answer by e-mail if possible, but you might be asked to pay a small amount for photocopies or postage in some cases.

We can refuse your request if we think it will cost us more than £450 to deal with. We might then ask you for more details so we can provide the right information you're looking for.

You should be sent a full reply within 20 working days (the deadline starts on the first working day after we receive your form). If we need more time, we will tell you how long it will take.

Some information might be sensitive. If we are not able to give you all the information, we’ll tell you why. You can also ask for environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations – things like air or water quality, noise and waste as well as any policies, decisions or activities that could affect them.

What to do if you are not happy with our response

If you feel our reasons for not giving you the information don't make sense, and you still want the information, you should use our internal review process. You will be given details of this with the reply. You should ask for the review within any time limits outlined in our response.

It will help your case if you put in writing the reasons why you think the exemptions/exceptions don't apply. Where a public interest test has been used, you can give your own reasons for why you should have the information if you don't think these have been looked at.

What happens next? We will try to carry out a review and reply within another 20 working days. If you have asked for environmental information, in some circumstances it may take us up to 40 working days to complete our review.

If you are still not happy, you can contact The Information Commissioner and ask them to look at our reply.