Freedom of Information
Hugh Baird College is required to adopt and maintain a publication scheme that sets out the information the College intends to proactively publish as a matter of routine. Adopting a publication scheme is a requirement of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Hugh Baird College has adopted the model publication scheme developed for the Further Education sector and is therefore committed to publishing the information it describes. This model is designed for further education colleges across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The purpose of the model is to save institutions duplicating effort in producing individual schemes and to assist the public in accessing information from across the sector. However, to reflect the diversity in size and function of institutions, a number of optional classes of information are included. As a result, models within the sector will vary slightly. Any optional classes relevant to us have been included in our scheme.
How to make a request under the publication scheme
To request information available through our publication scheme please contact:
Matt Larkin Vice Principal - Finance and Corporate Services Hugh Baird College Balliol Road Bootle Merseyside L20 7EW. Email: matt.larkin@hughbaird.ac.uk
Please ensure that in all cases you give your name and address and a clear description of the information you wish to receive. If you supply your email address, Hugh Baird College will endeavour to send the information by email.
From 1 January 2005 you will have the right, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, to request any information held by a public authority which it has not already made available through its publication scheme.
Requests will have to be made in writing and, in general, public authorities will have 20 working days to respond. They may charge a fee, which will have to be calculated according to Fees Regulations. They will not be required to release information to which an exemption in the Act legitimately applies. However, public authorities may be required to explain to the applicant why they are not releasing information and they may also have to justify this to the Information Commissioner.
Charges
Printed information on courses and services offered by the college is available free of charge, as are packs issued to people responding to notices of job vacancies. If requested, the College will produce publications and documents in other formats where it is reasonably practical to do so. For items not routinely available on request free of charge, or for items in other requested formats which incur additional cost, the College will usually make a charge. The charge will normally comprise the cost of photocopying or scanning (current photocopying charges and scanning charges are each 5p plus VAT per page) or the direct cost of putting the information into other requested formats, plus postage if applicable. In certain circumstances the college may waive the fee at its absolute discretion.
The College will take into account the costs it reasonably expects to incur in:
- determining whether it holds the information;
- locating the information, or a document containing it;
- retrieving the information, or a document containing it; and
- extracting the information from a document containing it.
The four activities mentioned above are sequential, covering the retrieval process of the information from the College’s information store. The College can take into account the costs attributable to the time that staff would be expected to spend on these activities. Such costs are calculated at £25 per hour per person regardless of the actual cost or rate of pay. The upper limit of fees chargeable in respect of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) currently stands at £450 as per section 6 of the Fees Regulations.
Classes of Information
| Who are we and what do we do? | Availability | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Instrument and Articles of Government Organisation and Managmenent Structure Membership of Committees Student Council Constitution |
Email/HardCopy | Free (when unable to access electronically on College Website |
| What we spend and how we spend it? | ||
| Budgetary and account information Financial Audit Reports Capital Programme Financial Regulations Approved Supplier List Contracts |
Email/HardCopy | £10 |
| What our priorities are and how we are doing? | ||
| Annual Report Strategic Plan Corporate and Business Plans Teaching and Learning Strategy Academic Quality and Standards External Review Information including OFSTED Insprection and Annual Assessment Report |
Email/HardCopy | Free (when unable to access on the College website) |
| How we make decisions | ||
| Minutes from Governing Body meetings | Available on College website, or for viewing at the College | N/A |
| Our policies and procedures | ||
| Procedures and policies for conducting College business rocedures and Policies relating to Human Resources Procedures and Policies relating to recruitment |
Email/Hard copy | £10 where not available on College website |
| Lists and Registers | ||
| Any list we are legally obliged to hold in publically available registers | Free of charge to view by appointment | |
| Fixed Asset Registers | Email/ Hard copy | £10 |
| The services we offer | ||
| Prospectus and course content Careers advice Library Advice and Guidance Media Releases |
Email/Hard copy | Free (when not available on the College website |
Information that is generally exempt from release
Personal information under the Data Protection Act; Commercially sensitive information about the college, its partners or contractors; Information that is archived, out of date or otherwise inaccessible; Information in draft form.
Feedback
It is important that this publication scheme meets your needs. If you find the scheme difficult to understand, please let us know. We also welcome suggestions as to how our scheme might be improved. Any questions, comments or complaints about this scheme should be sent in writing to:
Matt Larkin Vice Principal - Finance and Corporate Services Hugh Baird College Balliol Road Bootle Merseyside L20 7EW. Email: matt.larkin@hughbaird.ac.uk
If we are unable to resolve any complaint, you can complain to the Information Commissioner, the independent body who oversees the Freedom of Information Act:
Information Commissioner Wycliffe House Water lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF.
