Information governance

Under the FOI Act, any person has a legal right to ask for access to information held by schools and settings.

Schools and settings must say if they hold the information and provide it unless an exemption applies. It’s an offence to conceal, damage or destroy information to avoid responding to a request.

FOI requests

All staff need to be aware of the process for dealing with requests which must be in writing and provide an address for the response. Requests do not have to mention the FOI Act or say why they want information.

All requests must have a response even if schools and settings do not have the information which has been requested. If you do have the information you must supply it, except where exemptions apply.

There is no need to create new data to respond to a FOI request but you must respond to them within 20 days, excluding school holidays.

FOI complaints

Requesters can complain about responses and, if they’re not happy with the complaint response, they can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

FOI guidance

For guidance and more information about FOI, managing requests and complaints visit the ICO Freedom of Information guidance and resources web pages.

To find out how to contact the ICO for help and support including its helpline or live chat, visit the ICO How You Can Contact Us web page.

Contact us

We can provide support through our Information Governance Support (IGGS) service.

For more information or if you have any questions about data protection visit our IGS website or contact:

Telephone: 0333 032 2970

Email: igs@essex.gov.uk