Open information policy

Local Trust publishes a significant amount of information on its website https://localtrust.org.uk

The website contains information about:

• the governance of Local Trust and Big Local Trust including the annual report and accounts, decisions and actions from trustee meetings and its relationship with the Big Lottery Fund;
• information about staff and trustees;
• policy information including our equality and inclusion principles, environmental principles, and data protection and privacy policies;
• information about the Local Trust and Big Local Trust strategy;
• information about individual Big Local areas;
• and news regarding the charity and further information published on our blogs.

If the information you are seeking is not available publicly on our website or via other publicly available resources, requests for information can be made in writing to:

Verity Soons,
Office Manager and Board Secretary,
Local Trust,
CAN Mezzenine,
7-14 Great Dover Street,
London,
SE1 4YR

Or by email to info@localtrust.org.uk

Please provide your name, address, email address and as detailed a description as possible of the information you are seeking.

We shall endeavour to respond to each request promptly and (unless there is a reason why we cannot do so) within 28 working days following the date of us acknowledging

In a few cases, we may request additional time to consider your request in more detail if we need to consult other organisations as it is their data you are requesting. Please note that the above time period may be paused where we require clarification of your request or need make a charge to meet internal costs (see costs and charges section below).

Where we hold relevant information covered by your request and are able to respond in accordance with this policy, we may provide that information in electronic format or by post.  All information we hold is in English and will be provided in English.

Information disclosed by Local Trust under this policy may be copyright protected and in some cases may be subject to certain restrictions in relation to its re-use or publication, subject to applicable law. We shall notify you of any such restrictions when disclosing the relevant information.

Under the FOIA, some categories of information are exempt from disclosure or we may not be able to provide certain information because of other legal restrictions. Local Trust will not publish or share information where disclosing the information would put us in breach of a legal or contractual obligation or information falls within an exemption similar to an exemption under the FOIA. We will not provide information in the following situations:

• Confidential information: we will not provide information which is confidential or commercially sensitive or where Local Trust is prevented from disclosing information due to us being subject to legal or contractual prohibitions.
• Commercial interests: information may not be provided where disclosure would harm the commercial interests of Local Trust or a third party and is not in the public interest.
• Personal data: we will not normally share personal data relating to particular individuals without their permission in line with our obligations under The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018.
• Disproportionate costs: Local Trust is a charity and in order to manage the charity effectively we will not comply with a request for information when the costs of doing so, whether in money or staff resources, are materially disproportionate.
• Publicly available: where information requested is already publicly available either on the Local Trust website or via other public resources (e.g. the Charity Commission or a Big Local area’s own website).
• Internal communications: in general, we will not disclose internal papers, communications or draft documents so we can administer our organisation effectively and maintain the integrity of our internal processes. In particular, where documents are intended for future publication we will not publish it under this policy in advance of our proposed publication date.
• Programme information intended for internal audiences: where information is held intended for internal audiences and publication would inhibit effective delivery of the programme. This includes, but is not limited to:
  • Big Local Representative reports, which contain sensitive information related to areas
  • Big local Plan assessments and related information, containing confidential information provided to inform Local Trust decision making related to plan funding
  • Big Local Plan reviews, containing confidential information related to the partnership and programme delivery
  • Reviews undertaken by the Local Trust programme team as part of our risk management, containing sensitive financial or other information
  • Due diligence carried out by Local Trust on organisations delivering big local that contain sensitive financial information
  • Detailed financial information relating to individual Big Local partnerships (requests for this should be made, in the first instance, to the relevant Big Local partnership or Locally Trusted Organisation)
• Vexatious requests: we will not respond to repeated requests for the same information and where responding to the request has no conceivable public interest.
• Information held by others – Local Trust cannot provide information that is held by Big Local areas, Locally Trusted Organisations or Big Local Reps, but not by Local Trust itself (see “Requests for information made to Big Locals” below)
• Serious Prejudice: Local Trust reserves the right not to provide information where to do so would in our view, seriously prejudice the objectives of the charity or our responsibilities to people in Big Local areas.

The above list is not exhaustive and we may amend this list of exemptions from time to time or we may have other reasons for being unable to respond to a request for information, although we will always try to tell you our reasons.

In most cases Local Trust will not charge for the provision of information, however, we reserve the right to request advance payment for any material costs we have to incur in photocopying and/or posting information to you or for any other costs incurred by Local Trust in dealing with a request. Where Local Trust needs to make such a charge, we may not provide any information until the relevant payment is received.

This policy does not confer any legal or contractual rights on any person and Local Trust reserves the right to withdraw or amend this policy at any time. Furthermore, any decision Local Trust makes on whether to disclose or withhold some or all of the information you request under this policy is final and entirely at our discretion. Individuals whose personal data is held by Local Trust will have a separate right to make a subject access request under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. Please see our Privacy and Fair Collection Statement for more information about this.

In the majority of cases big local partnerships are unincorporated bodies. In those instances where big locals do form their own formal governance structures, they are often in the form of charitable bodies.

Big Locals, and any associated charitable organisations are not public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘FOIA’).

Verity Soons, Office Manager and Board Secretary has responsibility for compliance with this policy (‘Responsible Person’).  Policy adopted 2019, version 2.