Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) give you the right to request recorded information held by the council.
Fees
In most cases you will not be charged for making Freedom of Information Requests. However, you may be required to pay a fee for any copying or postage charges involved in your request.
In these cases, and in any other cases where a fee is charged, you will be informed of this fee and will be required to make payment before your information is released.
Please note that if any fees are not paid within three months of your original request we will assume that you no longer wish to proceed and will cancel the request.
Further information about fees can be found in the Access to Information Charging Policy
Before you apply
Please note: If your information request relates specifically to Local Land Charges searches or information requests relating to contaminated land or petroleum storage then these are handled differently as these requests are subject to a fee.
You can find out more information about Local Land Charges searches. If you are requesting information relating to contaminated land or petroleum storage then you will need to make an Environmental Information Request. When making these requests you do not need to quote the Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations.
Before you apply, check if the council has already published the information you are looking for. This will save you time and possible fees. It will also save the council money, meaning we will have more funds for the essential services we provide.
Under our publication scheme there is certain information that the council is required to publish on a regular basis. This includes, agendas and minutes of public meetings and policy and strategy meetings.
We also publish other information on the Council, including expenditure and details of Council properties, this can be found on the Council Data pages of our website.
Southampton City Council maintains a log of all its responses to information requests in the Disclosure Log.
Why might a request be refused?
In some cases your information may be refused. There are a number of reasons why this might happen.
If the information that you have requested is sensitive, we may be unable to provide you with it.
If we estimate that gathering the information you have requested will cost the council £450.00 or more then we will not carry out request. You will be given the opportunity to narrow down your request, or pay the cost.
Further information about fees can be found in the Access to Information Policy
If your request is refused we will tell you why and explain your rights of appeal.
Make a request
If you can't find the information you require through the Publication Scheme or the Council Data webpages, please submit your request in writing using the form below.
Before you fill in this form
You won't be able to save this form to complete later, so please allow yourself a couple of minutes to fill in the form.
Alternatively, you can post your request to:
Information Lawyer (Data Protection Officer)
Southampton City Council
Corporate Legal Team
Civic Centre
Southampton
SO14 7LT
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows up to 20 working days to respond to your request, we will respond as promptly as possible.
Further information
The supply of documents under the FOIA and the EIR is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1998. You do not have an automatic right to re-use the information for commercial gains (e.g. by making multiple copies, publishing, and issuing copies to the public without the permission of the council). For more information, please visit our Re-Use of Public Sector Information page.
