Re-use of public sector information

The Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations relates to information that the council produces as part of its public task. 'Public task' means our core role and functions, as defined in legislation or established through custom and practice.

Re-use means using public sector information, for a purpose other than the initial public task it was produced for.

This page explains how you can make a request to re-use information and how we will deal with your request.

The Regulation does not provide access to the information itself. That is available through the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or other access to information channels such as the Environmental Information Regulations.

How do I make a request to re-use information?

To be valid, a request must:

• be in writing
• state your name and address
• specify the information that you want to re-use.

Does the council have to respond within a set time?

We must respond to your request within 20 working days.

Sometimes it may be necessary to extend the time limit, where this happens we will tell you before the end of the 20 working day deadline why we are extending the time limit and the date on which we expect to be able to respond.

Responding to a request means:

• making the requested information available for re-use, or
• setting out the conditions on which re-use will be permitted.

Will I always be granted permission to re-use information?

Not always. The regulations allow us to refuse requests for one or more of the following reasons:

• The intellectual property rights of the information are owned by a third party. An example would be architectural drawings which we have commissioned from an architect who retains the copyright.
• The information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2005.
• The information falls outside of the council’s statutory functions.

Will I be told why you have refused to let me re-use the information?

Yes, if we refuse your request for re-use we must inform you in writing the reason for refusal.

We must also advise you of your rights of an internal review and of appeal.

Where the refusal is because intellectual property rights are owned by a third party we have to tell you who owns the relevant intellectual property rights, where we know that information; or the name of the person from whom we obtained the information.

Processing requests for re-use

Where possible we will process your request electronically and also make the information you wish to re-use available electronically.

However, we do not have to create or adapt information in order to comply with a request for re-use; nor are we required to provide an extract from information where it would involve disproportionate effort, or continue to produce a certain type of information just so that someone else can re-use it.

Will I be able to re-use information in any way I choose?

We publish our data under the Open Government Licence (version 3). This explains what you can and cannot do with the data we provide.

What happens if someone else wants to re-use the same information?

Once we have responded to a request for information we publish this on our disclosure log. This means the information is available for the public to view and re-use as required.

Asset list

An asset is any information that we produce that is of interest or value to the organisation itself and potentially to others.

The first step to re-using public sector information is to know what significant information is available for re-use. Some local authorities do this via the publication of an asset list or register. We are not intending to produce a separate information asset register, however, all significant information registered within the council’s Publication Scheme and as part of the Government's Transparency requirements (with the exception of information where charges apply) are available for re-use.