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NAO Freedom of Information Publication Scheme

Contents

 

Introduction

The role of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), as head of the National Audit Office (NAO), is to report to Parliament on the spending of central government money. We conduct audits of all government departments and agencies and many other public bodies, and report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which public bodies have used their resources. The C&AG and the NAO are totally independent of Government.

Under The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “Act”) all public authorities are required to specify what information they publish, how the information is made available, and whether it is available free of charge or upon payment. The Act requires a Publication Scheme to specify the classes of information that the public authority publishes or intends to publish. Our intention is to publish as much information as possible where there is known to be public interest.

The aim of this publication scheme is to explain what information the National Audit Office proactively makes available to the public, and wherever possible, to provide an easy method of accessing that information.

This is our Publication Scheme. We have organised our information into the following high level classes:

These classes are broken down into subclasses in the detailed scheme on these pages. 

Information listed in our Publication Scheme may be available in a number of forms:

Publication Scheme Accountability

The Information Centre Manager is responsible for the scheme. Day to day management of the scheme is the responsibility of Nora Miller, Information Officer.


Charging for Publication Scheme items

Our publication scheme indicates whether, within each class, there is a charge for the information or not. Information published on our website is available free of charge – ie there is no charge by us, although the user would have to meet any charges by their Internet Service Provider, personal printing costs etc.

For those without Internet access, single copies of documents as on the website are available from the NAO Library (foi@nao.gsi.gov.uk Tel: 020 7798 7264) or write to: 

The National Audit Office Library
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road
Victoria
LONDON
SW1W 9SP

However, requests for multiple copies or for archived copies of documents which are no longer available on the website, may attract a charge for the cost of retrieval, photocopies, postage etc. We would let you know the charge at the time of the request and this would be payable in advance.

For those requesting information which we have indicated is available as a hard copy, a single copy would be available by post at the above contact address. However, requests for multiple copies may attract a charge for the cost of retrieval, photocopy, postage etc. Again we would let you know this at the time of the request and the charge would be payable in advance. 

The scheme indicates where priced copies are available from The Stationery Office.

Large print copies of most items are available on request from the NAO Library.


Copyright

Unless otherwise stated:

From time to time NAO publications may contain information which is subject to Crown copyright, for example where we have reproduced information produced directly by a Crown body. Where this is the case we will have included a copyright statement and users should observe this statement and act accordingly. Crown Copyright is administered by Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI).

Further details are available on the Copyright Guidance section of the website: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/index.htm.

See the OPSI  website  for details of Click-Use Licences: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm

The NAO does not accept responsibility for material hosted on any external sites.

If you are maintaining or developing a website you do not have to ask permission to link directly to pages hosted on the NAO website. However, you must not link to information on our website in a way that implies a relationship with, or endorsement by the NAO, or which misrepresents NAO content as being published by anyone other than NAO.


Right to Information 

We will, along with other public authorities, answer requests for information within the terms of the individual right of access given in the Act. This individual right of access applies to all types of information held by public authorities regardless of the date of the information. This means that if you want information which is not available under the Publication Scheme you may write to the NAO Library at the above address. Subject to exemptions, which may prevent some information being released, anyone making a request will be informed whether the public authority holds the information, and, if so, be supplied with it – generally within 20 working days.

There is no obligation for us to provide information if the estimated cost of doing so would exceed £600 - the limit set in secondary legislation sponsored by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. When calculating whether the appropriate limit is exceeded, we will take account of the costs of determining whether the information is held, locating and retrieving the information, and extracting the information from other documents - with staff costs calculated at £25 per hour. We cannot take account of the costs involved with considering whether information is exempt under the Act. In cases where the cost limit would be exceeded we will contact you in advance to discuss whether you would prefer the scope of your request to be modified so that, for example, it would cost less than the appropriate limit.


Complaints

If your request for information is denied then you may follow a complaints procedure. In the first instance complaints should be sent to the Director, Corporate Affairs at the NAO. If you are not happy with any subsequent response you can write to the Information Commissioner who has responsibility for approving Publication Schemes, promoting compliance with the Act and powers of enforcement. Contact details for the Information Commissioner are:

Information Commissioner
Wycliffe Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510


Feedback

If you have any questions or comments about our Publication Scheme please send them to the NAO Library at the address listed above.