A Parents, the press or the general public can ask to see information held by the school. Maintained schools/colleges (and also City Technology Colleges and Academies) have to comply with Freedom of Information legislation, which applies to all public authorities.

Processing

Anyone who requests a maintained school or a college for information, including personal information, must be informed whether the school/college holds that information or not and, if it does, it must supply the information. Much of the information held by schools and colleges is already made public e.g. Ofsted reports, school prospectuses, homework policies, home/school agreements. The Act applies to information which already exists. A school is not required to collect or re-process information. It may refuse to supply information if that information will be published in due course anyway.

Some information of a particularly sensitive nature can be withheld, but even if a disclosure is not required by the law the school/college must consider whether it should be released in the public interest. It can only be withheld if the public interest in withholding it is greater than the public interest in releasing it. Confidential material must be evaluated in the same way.

LAs and schools are required to establish a publication scheme that will set out how it intends to publish details of the different classes of information it holds and whether it will charge for supplying information. Your school will need a management system to facilitate the retrieval of information and will need to consider the charging policy, staff training and how best to publicise the service.

Guidance from the Information Commissioner and the DCSF for schools on the handling and management of the requirements has been published and a notice to all schools in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland is on the Information Commissioner’s website: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

There is also a telephone help line. Further advice is available on teachernet, including Freedom of Information Act 2000 Summary Guidance for Governing Bodies.

Also available are guidelines from The Records Management Society of Great Britain. These are guidelines about the retention of information and documents in schools. They help schools decide what to discard and what to keep.

The Welsh Assembly Government has published a model scheme - Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Model Publication Scheme for Schools - Circular 9/2004.

Quick Guides DA3 Freedom of Information: Points of Law; DA3A A Guide for Maintained Schools on the Full Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act from January 2005; DA3B Freedom of Information Checklist for Action on receipt of a Request for Information.

Quick Guides has extensive guidance, points of law, model disability equality statements, policies and schemes in its Equal Opportunities for Staff (EO) and Equal Opportunities for Pupils (EOP) Sections.

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