Access to Information

We understand there is interest in how we work, the services we provide, the decisions we make and the money we spend. We routinely make information available through our website, notices, publications, newsletters and correspondence. 

Publication Scheme and Transparency

We are committed to being open and transparent and in addition to our website have adopted the Information Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme and created a guide to help show what information is available. 

The Guide includes the 7 categories of information recommended by the Information Commissioner that explain who we are, what we do, what we spend and how we spend it, our priorities and performance, how we make decisions, our policies and procedures, public lists and registers, and the services we offer.

The Guide also includes references to the information we publish in line with the Transparency Code 2015 and Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (datasets) as well as any other information or open data that we think people might be interested in.    

The Guide is published on Data Mill North.  If you have any comments about the Guide please contact us.

If we do not publish the information you want, you can make an information request under the Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations. 

If  you want to request information about yourself, this is covered by data protection law and you have to make a subject access request.

Open Data

Open data is data that is made available to people to re-use for their own interests and purposes. We publish data on sites like:

• Sheffield City Council Website (publication scheme information)
• ArcGIS Online (maps, geospatial and environmental information)
• Data Mill North (transparency)

Where possible, the data will be published in an accessible format (preferably CSV or PDF) and made public under the Open Government Licence. 

Some of the datasets are also listed on data.gov.uk.

Local Government Acts and responsibility

There are other laws that require information to be made available:

Local Government Acts 1972, 1985 (Access to Information) and 2000 require records to be kept of Council meetings and Councillors’ interests and to make them available to the public.

The Local Authority (Executive Arrangements) (Meeting and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 and the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 take this transparency further and require council meeting and decision making documents to be published and allow people the right to film, record or report during the proceedings.

The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 allows a local council tax or business rates payer to inspect and make copies of the Council’s accounting records from the previous financial year eg Statement of Accounts. This right is time limited and subject to exceptions. 

INSPIRE Regulations 2007

The INSPIRE Directive (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) Regulations 2007 apply to spatial or geographic data with an environmental theme. 

The regulations require us to publish spatial data relating to the environment and relevant metadata about the data to make it meaningful and consistent.  The aim of the directive is to enable the sharing of environmental data with the public and between organisations across Europe to assist in policy making across boundaries. The laws around INSPIRE will persist in UK law regardless of the outcome of Brexit. Some examples of datasets released under INSPIRE include: Allotments sites, flood zones and air quality management areas.

We publish spatial data on our ArcGIS Online website.

Re-use of Public Sector Information

Under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, we must make information about our core responsibilities and functions accessible and available for re-use unless it is restricted or excluded from disclosure. 

We aim to publish data under the terms of the Open Government Licence, but where other terms and conditions apply, you will need to request permission for re-use under the RPSI regulations and can do so by contacting us at informationmanagement@sheffield.gov.uk.