Data Protection Act 1998

The Data Protection Act 1998 applies to any organisations which hold and process personal information about people. In particular organisations must register the purposes for which they process personal information and they must obey the Data Protection Principles. The Act also provides people with a right of access to the information held about them in systems.
If it is factually incorrect, the person has the right to have the wrong information corrected or erased.

Freedom of Information Act 2000

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is intended to promote a culture of openness and accountability amongst public authorities by providing people with rights of access to the information held by them. There are exemptions to these rights, to find out what exemptions apply look in our Freedom of Information FAQ.

The Council is committed to the principles behind the Act and this is expressed in our Freedom of Information Policy.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Council has published a Publications Scheme: this lists all the documents which the Council makes public as a matter of routine.

Environmental Information Regulations 2004

The Environmental Information Regulations give the public access rights to environmental information held by a public authority in response to requests. The Regulations  cover any information that is considered to be 'environmental information’