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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("the 2000 Act") creates significant new rights of access to recorded information held by public authorities such as the Borough Council.
The 2000 Act creates a duty on all public authorities to adopt and maintain a publication scheme, detailing the classes of information it will regularly publish.
The 2000 Act also creates, with effect from 1 January 2005, two general rights. One the right to be told whether or not the information requested is held, and two, the right to be given the information within 20 working days, subject in both cases to certain exemptions.
It is fundamental to the implementation of and compliance with the provisions of the 2000 Act that public authorities have in place information and records management systems and practices that allow authorities to know what information they hold, where that information is and to be able to retrieve and distribute that information in a timely and efficient manner.
Within this context the Borough Council has approved an overall Records Management policy statement on how it manages its records, evidencing the Authority's commitment to ensure that all of its records are managed effectively.
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