Re-use of public sector information policy

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (WHBC) encourages the re-use of its information whenever possible.

Legislation such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) provide a right of access to information held by WHBC and require that certain information is routinely published. The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and from May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) provides a right to access to personal information held by WHBC.

Section 102 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) adds new requirements to the FOIA as section 45 about how data-sets are released, including the re-use of this information.

The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 (PSI Regs.) came into effect on 1st July 2005 following a European Directive to establish a framework for requesting the re-use of public sector information. These regulations apply to the re-use of information that is not a data-set.