Making an FOI request

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests can be made by writing to the council’s Corporate Information Governance Officer at the address below.

Where an information request is for environmental information, it should be dealt with under Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) – not FOI.

Please check our publication scheme first as the information you require may already be available. If the information is not available, please contact us by email or post with:

• your name and address for correspondence
• the information you require

To comply with FOI, Portsmouth City Council must respond to requests within 20 working days (subject to exemptions).

Where a fee is required, you will be advised and you must pay before the request is processed. If the fee is not paid within three months, the request will be considered lapsed.

Where requests are repeated or considered an intentional annoyance, the council will be under no obligation to disclose the information requested.

You can find out what personal information of yours the council has, by writing a request to the Data Protection Officer. The data access request form is available to print and complete below.

Please include:

• a form of identification (passport or driving licence)
• a recent bank statement or utility bill

The following may also be helpful:

• any former names
• former addresses
• reference numbers given to you by council services

If you cannot come to the Civic Offices, or don’t have any form of identification please use the contact details below to discuss it with us.

If you disagree with the outcome of a Freedom of Information or Environmental Information Regulations request, contact the council’s Information Governance team in writing within 40 working days of the response.

You can do this by post to the Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2AL or by email to foi@portsmouthcc.gov.uk and ask for an internal review of the decision. You should explain why you disagree with the original response and be as clear and specific as possible.

An independent review will then be carried out and we will try to advise you of the outcome within another 20 working days (this may be longer in complex cases).

If you’re unhappy with the outcome of the internal review, raise your concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and they will make an independent assessment of the response you received.

If you wish to make a complaint about the service you received or about a member of staff in the Information Governance Team, follow the Corporate Complaints process online.