Submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) Request
If you can't find the information you need through our website, Publication Scheme or FOI and EIR Disclosure Log, you can write to us to request the information.
For information about accessing deceased persons information please see Information about the deceased.
Submit an FOI request
Or if you are unable to submit an online request you can write to:
Freedom of Information
Nottinghamshire County Council
County Hall
West Bridgford
Nottingham
NG2 7QP.
or email: foi@nottscc.gov.uk
We are keen to help you exercise your legal rights so you can get the information you want. If you need help with making an FOI request please speak to our Customer Service Centre.
If you are unable to frame your request in writing, we will look to offer you appropriate assistance to help you make your request for information. Depending on the circumstances, we may:
- advise you that another person or agency (such as a Citizens Advice Bureau) may be able to assist you with your application, or make the application on your behalf
- in exceptional circumstances, we may offer to take a note of your application over the telephone and then send you the note for confirmation (in which case the written note of the telephone request, once verified by the applicant and returned, would constitute a written request for information and the statutory time limit for reply would begin when the written confirmation was received).
Please note that you may be referred to someone else in the Council for assistance.
Cost
Upon receiving your request, we will calculate how long it will take us to find the information you have asked for and how much it will cost us.
If the cost to us is £450, which is the same as two and a half days searching and collating the information, the law says we can refuse to provide the information. Rather than flatly refuse however, we will ask you to clarify your request so that we can find and provide the information more easily.
We may charge you a fee for the cost of any copying plus postage. If this is the case, we will tell you first so that you can choose whether to proceed or not. For more detailed information see our Schedule of Charges [PDF].
Exemptions
We may not be able to give you all or any of the information you request. This is because there are some exemptions to your right to know. For example, data protection rules will still prevent you seeing someone else's personal information. Information which is due to be published at a later date will normally not be available to you before that date. If we apply an exemption we will tell you and give you the reason.
Please consult our FOI exemptions page for more information.
Appeals or complaints
If we refuse all or some of your request for information you have the right to ask us to review our decision.
The review will be considered by the Manager of the Complaints and Information Team, who will not have had prior dealings with your request
If you are dissatisfied with how we have dealt with your request you can also make a complaint.
If you are still dissatisfied you can appeal to the Information Commissioner.
