Model Publication Scheme
The requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 require the Parish Council to adopt and maintain a publication scheme. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has developed and approved a Model Publication Scheme (MPS) that became operational on 1st January 2009. This MPS commits the Parish Council to produce and publish the method by which specified information held by the Parish Council will be made available.
Available information, listed below, is available either from the website or from the clerk. Hard copy will be charged at 5.5p per A4 sheet. Postage will be charged as incurred.
Class1 - Who we are and what we do
- Who’s who on the Council and its Committees
- Contact details for Parish Clerk and Council members
Class 2 – What we spend and how we spend it
- Annual return form and report by auditor
- Finalised budget
- Precept
- Financial Standing Orders and Regulations
- Grants given and received
- List of current contracts awarded and value of contract
- Members’ allowances and expenses
Class 3 – What our priorities are and how we are doing
- Annual Report to Parish or Community Meeting (current and previous year as a minimum)
- Contact details for Parish Clerk and Council members
Class 4 – How we make decisions
- Timetable of meetings (Council and any committee/sub-committee meetings and parish meetings)
- Agendas of meetings (as above)
- Minutes of meetings (as above) – n.b. this will exclude information that is properly regarded as private to the meeting.
- Reports presented to council meetings – n.b. this will exclude information that is properly regarded as private to the meeting.
- Responses to consultation papers
- Responses to planning applications
Class 5 – Our policies and procedures
- Procedural standing orders
- Code of Conduct
- Policy statements
- Policies and procedures for handling requests for information
- Records management policies (records retention, destruction and archive)
- Schedule of charges (for the publication of information)
Class 6 – Lists and Registers
- Assets register
- Register of members’ interests
Class 7 – The services we offer
- Burial grounds and closed churchyards
- Parks, playing fields and recreational facilities
- Seating, litter bins, clocks, memorials and lighting
- Services for which the council is entitled to recover a fee, together with those fees (e.g. burial fees)