Model Publication Scheme

As well as responding to requests for information, we must also publish information proactively. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires every public authority to have a publication scheme, approved by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and to publish information covered by the scheme.

The scheme must set out our commitment to make certain classes of information routinely available, such as policies and procedures, minutes of meetings, annual reports and financial information.

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent has adopted the model publication scheme that has been developed by the ICO. The ICO has also developed a specific definition document for OPCCs in order to provide guidance as to the types of information we should be publishing under each of the seven headings specified in the model publication scheme.  In order to meet our obligations for publishing information, we have developed a Guide to Information which contains all the required information.

The information we release in accordance with the publication scheme represents the minimum we must disclose. If you want information not listed in the scheme, you can still ask for it by submitting a Freedom of Information Request.

Obligations under disability and discrimination legislation and any other legislation to provide information in other forms and formats will be adhered to when providing information in accordance with this scheme.

Charges made for Information Published under this Publication Scheme

The purpose of this scheme is to make the maximum amount of information readily available at minimum inconvenience and cost to the public. Charges made by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for routinely published material will be justified and transparent and kept to a minimum.

Material which is published and accessed on a website will be provided free of charge.

Charges may be made for costs incurred such as for:

  • Production expenses (such as redacting exempt information, printing or photocopying);
  • Postage;
  • Complying with the applicant’s preferences about the format in which they would like to receive the information (such as scanning to a CD).

Charges may also be made for making datasets (or parts of datasets) available.  If applicable, these charges will be in accordance with the terms of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, section 11b of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, or any other legislation that may apply.  If a dataset is made available for re-use under the Open Government Licence, there is no charge for re-use of this information.

If a decision is taken to charge for the cost of providing information, we will send a fees notice stating the amount that should be paid, including how we have calculated this, as soon as possible within the 20 working day response period.  The response will include:

  • An explanation that the 20 working day period for responding to the request will be paused until payment is received (payment is expected within three months of the date of the notice or we will assume that the request no longer needs to be answered.  The 20 working day response period will recommence when the payment has been cleared);
  • How to pay the fee; and
  • Right to complain via internal review and to the Information Commissioner about the fee levied.

Responsibility for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Publication Scheme

The Head of Assurance and Compliance has overall responsibility for our Publication Scheme.  The Governance Officer is responsible for maintaining and managing the scheme.