The Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Under the Act, we are required to adopt a publication scheme which contains information we routinely make available, and ensure that information is published in accordance with the scheme. Link to the publication scheme information we make available.
If the information you want is not currently published, you can request it from us. All requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act must be in writing and must include your name and an address for the response. This can be sent either by post to the address below, emailed to foidpa@epsom-ewell.gov.uk or by using the FOI request form link above. You will be required to create a MCS (My Council Services) account to use the online form, if you do not wish to do this please email or post us your request. Please provide a description of the information that you are seeking from the Council. It may be helpful to provide a contact number as well in case we need to contact you about your request.
Address for postal correspondence: Freedom of Information Officer, Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, Town Hall, The Parade, Epsom KT18 5BY
Our Freedom of Information Policy can be found at the bottom of this page.
Highways, education and schools, adult and children's social services
If you are requesting information about highways, education and schools, adult and children's social services you need to send your request to Surrey County Council as Epsom & Ewell Borough Council is not responsible for these services. Requests can be sent to foi@surreycc.gov.uk or by post to:
Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Democratic and Cultural Services
Surrey County Council
Woodhatch Place
11 Cockshot Hill
Reigate
Surrey
RH2 8EF
What happens next?
You will receive an acknowledgement of your request with a reference number allocated to it and a date by which you should receive a response. If the Council Officer who is dealing with your request requires any clarification on the terms of your request they will contact you.
Sometimes we receive requests for information held by other public bodies and we will let you know which public body may be able to assist. We may also ask you if you would like us to forward on your request to that organisation.
The response to your request will be provided via email or post. If the Council has decided to refuse to disclose some or all of the information that you have requested the reason for doing so will be explained with reference to the relevant exemptions to disclosure set out in the Act.
What to do if you are not satisfied with the response or the way in which the request has been dealt with?
If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your request or with the reasons we have given for refusing to provide information, you have the right to appeal. In the first instance you will be able to seek an internal review by other Council Officers of that decision. This will be undertaken by an officer who was not involved with the original decision. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review you can complain to the Information Commissioner details of which will be provided in the response to your FOI request.
Charges for Information
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 sets out that any requests that would take over 18 hours to process (this includes determining if the information is held, locating the information, retrieving information, extracting information, collecting data sets, producing or reproducing data sets and dissemination of the information) are chargeable.
An hourly rate of £25 may be charged for any requests that require over 18 hours of work to complete. The first 18 hours of work will be free of charge to the requestor, after which the £25 hourly rate will apply for any surplus hours.
If fees are to be charged, you will be sent a Fees Notice indicating the total cost for your request, along with an invoice. You will have up to three months in which to pay any fees due, with the 20 working day response timescale starting from when the fee is received. We will endevour to notify you of any fees due as soon as possible, however this may be after our initial acknowledgement of your request, once we have had a chance to fully consider the information that has been requested.
Aggregating requests:
Where we receive multiple requests within a 60 working day period from the same requester (person), people acting in concert (acting together as in a campaign) or on roughly the same subject, we will aggregate the time to handle these and charge as per the charges stated above.
Copyright
Most of the information the Council provides in response to requests will be subject to copyright protection. This includes attachments. In most cases the copyright will be owned by Epsom & Ewell Borough Council. However, the copyright in some information may be owned by a third party. You are free to use any information supplied in this response for your own non-commercial research or private study purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting.
Except as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the information supplied may not be copied, distributed, published, or exploited for commercial purposes, financial gain or direct marketing.
If you want to re-use the information provided and the Council is the copyright owner you must make an application to the Council under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015. Where the copyright is owned by a third party, you must obtain the third party’s consent in order to re-use the information.
