Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act gives members of the public the right to information held by public authorities. As a community interest company wholly owned by three local authorities (Kingston, Richmond and Windsor & Maidenhead), Achieving for Children is a public authority and we are subject to the requirements of the FOI Act.

Requests for information relating to children’s services, such as the delivery of services, spending and performance in Kingston, Richmond and Windsor and Maidenhead are managed by Achieving for Children.

Before making a request, check the information is not already published:

Publication Scheme

Strategies, policies and reports

If you have not found the information you require on our website you can make an information request.

Make an FOI request relating to children’s services in Kingston, Richmond and Windsor & Maidenhead

If you want information about yourself, you need to make a Subject Access Request (SAR), instead of a Freedom of Information request, please go to Individual Rights.

The FOI process

We will have 20 working days in which to give a full response. We will write to you to:

• acknowledge your request
• ask for more details or clarification if your request is not clear
• say whether a fee is required to provide the information requested
• let you know if the information you have requested falls under one of the exemptions under the FOI Act and therefore may not be released. If this is the case, we will tell you which exemption has been applied and the reasons for our decision. The Information Commissioner’s website has more information on exemptions.

Charges

In most cases, information will be supplied free of charge. However, in some circumstances, a charge may be applicable for some information, for example, paper copies sent out by post. You will be advised of any costs before any information is sent to you.

If you are not satisfied with our response

A requester may ask AfC to conduct an internal review of its handling of a FOI request. Internal reviews consider decisions made, rationale, public interest, timeliness and all other relevant aspects of the request.  

The internal review request should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. AfC is not obliged to provide a review if the internal review request is submitted more than 40 working days after the initial response. Requests should be sent to [email protected].

The internal review will consider how the request was handled, whether relevant information was identified and whether the original exemptions should be upheld or to apply a different or additional exemption. The reviewer will identify and communicate with all relevant staff that were active in the original request and invite them to review the handling of the request. The review will be conducted by the Head of Information Governance or the Information Governance and Compliance Officer, who will not have had involvement with the original response under review. 

AfC will conduct internal reviews within 20 working days and the review response will be signed off by the Associate Director for Strategy and Transformation, who is also the Senior Information Risk Officer (SIRO) for the organisation.  

Applicants who remain dissatisfied with the outcome of an internal review may exercise their right of appeal to the Information Commissioner, and subsequently to  an Information Tribunal.