Introduction
This page gives you background information on LFEPA, our publication scheme, access to information and data protection.
Contents:
Introduction
Welcome to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority’s (LFEPA) publication scheme. This has been produced under section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the FOI Act). The ‘classes of information’ which LFEPA publishes can be found under the heading Publication scheme list of classes.
Who we are
LFEPA was reconstituted in July 2000 under the provisions of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 and is part of the group of organisations under the “umbrella” of the Greater London Authority. LFEPA runs the London Fire Brigade – London’s fire and rescue organisation. There are various Acts of Parliament that govern how we deliver our services. In the main these are the Fire Services Act 1947, the Fire Precautions Act 1971, the Local Government Acts of 1972 and 1985 and the Greater London Authority Act 1999.
A single-purpose fire authority has run London’s fire service since 1986 when the former Greater London Council was abolished. Before July 2000, LFEPA was called the “London Fire and Civil Defence Authority”.
LFEPA has 17 members appointed by the mayor of London; nine are chosen from members of the London Assembly and eight from among the London Borough councillors. These members oversee the Authority’s activities. The Chair of the Authority is currently Valerie Shawcross who is a London Assembly member. The Commissioner for Fire and Emergency Planning is Ron Dobson. He takes day-to-day responsibility for the operation of the services that we deliver. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister takes national responsibility for UK fire services.
The mayor of London and the London Assembly set our budget. The costs of providing our services are met partly from council tax and partly by government grant and business rates. Further information about our budget can be found in the publication scheme.
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What we do
London’s fire service (London Fire Brigade) is the third largest firefighting organisation in the world, protecting people and property from fire within the 1,587 square kilometres of Greater London. Our most visible work is sending fire engines and other specialist vehicles to put out fires and rescue people from fires, in response to 999 calls and automatic fire alarms. We also deal with other emergencies including:
- rescuing trapped and/or injured people where no fire is involved (e.g. in lifts or at road accidents
- dealing with spillage and accidental release of substances endangering life or the environment (e.g. chemical or toxic substances released)
- responding to extreme weather conditions (e.g. pumping water from flooded property)
We also enforce fire safety laws, give fire safety advice and carry out emergency and contingency planning including helping London boroughs to plan for emergencies.
However, putting out fires when they occur is not enough. Our principal aim is making London a safer city by reducing as far as possible the risks, and social and economic costs of fire and other dangers. This underpins everything that we do. To make our principal aim a reality we want to reduce the number of fires, fire deaths and injuries, false-alarms (in non-domestic properties) and hoax calls – by 20 per cent between 2000 and 2005.
We want to prevent fires and make sure you are safe if a fire does happen. We believe that prevention is always better than cure and have developed a Community fire safety strategy to help stop fires from happening. We know that if we are really going to be successful in reducing the number of fires and fire-related deaths and injuries we must work more closely with the community to reduce risks and protect those most vulnerable. We also need to work in partnership with other organisations like the police, the mayor of London and the London borough councils.
We have recently changed the way we are organised to make sure resources are targeted on a borough by borough basis. Every London borough now has a borough commander who is responsible for delivering and developing the fire service in their borough.
If you would like further information about our aims, service standards and values, you can find them in our annual plan called: Your Safety First - How we're making London a safer city. This is our best value performance plan 2003/2004.
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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (The FOI Act)
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 was passed on 30 November 2000. The FOI Act gives a general right of access to all types of ‘recorded’ information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities. The Information Commissioner, a government appointee, enforces the FOI Act.
The FOI Act places two main duties on LFEPA:
- To adopt and maintain a publication scheme which must be approved by the Information Commissioner and operate from 28 February 2003
- To deal with individual requests for information from January 2005.
You are able to ask LFEPA for information, which is not already published elsewhere or is exempt under the FOI Act. This is known as the general right of access to information.
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Our commitment to openness
LFEPA has always been as open as possible with the information we hold and the work that we do. We believe in openness and honesty.
We strongly believe that by publishing information about fires, other emergencies and how we manage our services we will achieve greater understanding, trust, engagement and openness with the public. Information about our services, particularly the provision of fire safety advice, is critical to achieving our principal aim: To make London a safer city by minimising the risks and social and economic costs of fire and other hazards.
We aim to:
- Share our knowledge as widely as possible
- Be open and transparent about the decisions we make
- Identify the information that people want and make it as widely available as possible subject to any legal constraints
- Provide the information that people want as far as possible
- Listen to our stakeholders and the communities that we serve and seek to improve our services based upon their views
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What is the publication scheme?
A publication scheme is basically a guide to the information we hold which is available to the public and will be routinely released. A publication scheme sets out:
- the classes of information we publish or intend to publish
- the manner in which information will be published
- whether the information is available free of charge or upon payment.
We must release the information as described in our publication scheme.
The purpose of a publication scheme is to make sure that a significant amount of information is available, without the need for a specific request. Publication schemes are intended to encourage organisations to publish more information proactively and to develop a greater culture of openness. The scheme brings together the many different types of information available to the public in a structured way and provides details as to how it can be obtained. This aims to save you time and effort.
The publication scheme is available on our website www.london-fire.gov.uk/ps or you can request a hard copy from the Information Access Team.
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Responsibility for LFEPA’s publication scheme
Responsibility for our publication scheme rests with the Director of Corporate Services (Rita Dexter). Day to day responsibility for the operation of the scheme has been delegated to the Head of Information Management (David Wyatt) who heads the Information Management Division based within the Strategy, Planning and Performance Department.
The Information Management Division is responsible for managing the implementation of the FOI Act in LFEPA (amongst other things such as Data Protection). The Information Access Team is the main contact point for all enquiries and requests for information published. We believe that the creation of a dedicated Information Access Team is an important step towards realising the aims of the FOI Act and our own commitment to openness.
How the publication scheme works
LFEPA’s publication scheme consists of information already published and held by us or information that we intend to publish in the future. In deciding whether information should or should not form part of the scheme we considered whether it was in the public interest to publish it rather than withhold it. The information in the publication scheme, which we will publish, is available in different formats including ‘electronic pages’ on our website or electronic files via email, paper copies of documents from files, printed booklets and leaflets.
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How to find the information you need
The publication scheme lists the different types of information we make available, grouped together so that it is easy to find. These groups are called ‘classes of information’ and they are sorted into a number of different categories and topics.
There are four main categories of information:
Within each of these categories there are a number of different topics. For example, the classes of information “Press releases” and “Briefing sheets” are both grouped within the topic called “Communications”, which can be found within the broader category of “Management arrangements and decision making”. Between them, the categories and topics should help you find the class of information you are looking for.
Information within the publication scheme is either available free of charge or on payment of a fee; it will be stated under each class of information whether we provide the information free of charge or after payment of a fee. You can find more information about this under the heading Charges.
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Information which is no longer current
To avoid confusion, some information about our policies, advice on fire safety matters, details of the services we provide, etc. will be removed when they are no longer current. It will say, in appropriate classes of information, whether past material is available and, if so, how far back it will be provided. If you want to get hold of non-current information, which is not in the publication scheme, then refer to Access to information not included in the scheme below.
LFEPA has an arrangement to pass information of archival or historic interest to the London Metropolitan Archives (which is run by the Corporation of London) as part of our records management practices. Some information about London’s fire service produced under the former London Fire and Civil Defence Authority, Greater London Council and other bodies is also stored by the London Metropolitan Archives. If you would like to know more information about London Metropolitan Archives generally, we suggest that you visit their website http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/
Archived information does not generally form part of this publication scheme. However, you are still able to make a request for archived information and we will provide you with the information, subject to any legal restrictions. There may be charges for supplying you with copies of archived information. If you would like to know more about our information held at London Metropolitan Archives, please contact the Information Access Team.
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How we make information available
Information contained within the scheme is available in a number of ways but not necessarily made available in all of these ways. Details of availability are contained within each class of information but generally information is available:
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On our website
When information is available to you on the LFEPA or another website the web address will be given and a link provided. Links on our website will take you to either a specific document or to an area within our website where you will be offered more choices as to the types of information available falling within that class. Note that when the link is to another organisation’s website, provision of the information is the responsibility of that organisation and not of LFEPA. We do not provide printouts of other organisations' websites. Information available on our website is free of charge and can also be requested by email or post (see below.)
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By email
Information available by email will be sent on request, following the receipt of any fee payable. Please use the contact details below to send your request. We aim to dispatch the information within 20 working days from receipt of your request and any appropriate fee. Information available via email is also available by post upon request.
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By post
Information will be posted upon request, following the receipt of any fee you need to pay. Please use the contact details below to send your request to. We aim to dispatch the information within 20 working days from receipt of your request and fee. Information available by post is not available on our website or by email.
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By personal inspection
Information made available as part of the publication scheme can be viewed, by appointment, in LFEPA’s Brigade library based at our headquarters in Lambeth. Arrangements to view or copy the information contained within the publication scheme and held in the library can be made by contacting the Information Officer. You will need to make an appointment; opening hours are currently Monday to Friday 10am until 4:30pm. The library has a computer terminal so you can access the publication scheme. The Information Officer will ask you for details of the information you would like to see and will ensure that is made available to you for the time of your visit, following the receipt of any appropriate fee. The main purpose of the LFEPA library is to provide information to LFEPA staff to assist them with their work; the library is open to the public on an appointment only basis. Please note that only some of the information held by the library is available to the public. The library also manages LFEPA’s substantial collection of London fire service photographs. For more information about the library please contact the Information Officer.
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Charges
Please see charging for information.
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Copyright
All LFEPA material is the copyright of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority unless stated otherwise. If you wish to copy any information within the scheme, you may do so in any format for any non-commercial purpose provided that:
- it is reproduced accurately;
- it is not used in a misleading context;
- the source and copyright status of the material are acknowledged; and
- the material you produce is published or distributed without charge.
Applications for permission to reproduce material for any commercial purpose may be made to David Wyatt, Head of Information Management, London Fire Brigade, 169 Union Street, SE1 OLL. Permission is normally granted free of charge to educational organisations.
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Where to find useful information
The reports, which LFEPA’s staff present to Authority, Committees and Panel meetings, contain a wealth of information about the work that we do and the decisions that we make. Our website contains a database of LFEPA reports and this is a valuable source of information for the public. This can be accessed under the class heading Management arrangements and decision-making – Authority, Committee and Panel papers. Where we believe that there might be significant public interest in the decisions or material contained in Authority reports we have made them a class of information in their own right.
If you would like further information about LFEPA and current issues we suggest that you refer to the series of LFEPA Briefing sheets. Some briefings are also accessible under the class heading dealing with the subject covered.
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Your rights to attend meetings
The public already have a number of rights to attend our meetings, to inspect background papers and other documents held at the Authority’s headquarters under the Local Government Acts 1972 and 1985. We welcome the public at our formal Authority meetings, as this is an opportunity for the public to gain a greater understanding about the work that we do.
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Access to information not included in the publication scheme
If the information you are looking for is not available under the publication scheme you can still ask us if we are holding it and, if so, make a request to see it. There may be charges for certain types of information.
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Access to personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998
You can also apply for a copy of the personal data we might be holding about you under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). This is known as a subject access request. The DPA came into force on 1 March 2000 and provides living individuals with a right of access to personal information held by organisations about them. The Act sets out rules for processing personal information (known as personal data) and applies to some paper records as well as those held on computer. A list of the reasons for which we hold personal information can be found in our notification on the Information Commissioner’s website.
The right of access to personal information that LFEPA may be holding is subject to exemptions under the DPA and these may affect whether information is provided. Requests for information received by LFEPA are dealt with on a case-by-case basis and we do not currently charge a fee for handling requests.
If you would like to request access to information under the Data Protection Act please put your request in writing and send it to the Information Access Team. Please provide as much detail as possible to help us find the information that you are looking for together with details of how we can contact you to discuss the request if needed. We will contact you within 40 calendar days of receipt of your request and advise you whether we are holding the information and if we are, we will provide you with the information we are holding, subject to any applicable exemptions under the DPA.
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Environmental information
If you are looking for information relating to the environment, you can submit a request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Requests for information should be sent in writing to the Information Access Team. Please provide as much detail as possible about the information that you are looking for together with details of how we can contact you to discuss the request if needed.
There are a number of legal exemptions that apply to the provision of information about the environment. If we do not provide you with the information that you are looking for, we will write to you explaining the reasons why.
The provision of information will be subject to the payment of any applicable and appropriate fee.
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Compliments and complaints
Details about how to make a compliment or complaint can be found on our website together with our procedures for handling them. We also have a leaflet, which includes a form to complete and return to us free of charge. Copies of our leaflet are available by telephone by contacting our Corporate Complaints and Compliments Officer on 020 8555 1200. You are also entitled to make a complaint about Data Protection or Freedom of Information to the Information Commissioner, contact details are provided below under further information.
Contact points
Requests for information listed in the scheme should be sent to:
The Information Access Team
London Fire Brigade
169 Union Street,
London
SE1 OLL
e: infoaccess@london-fire.gov.uk
To make an appointment to visit LFEPA’s Brigade library to examine the publication scheme or simply consult the library collection, contact the Information Officer direct:
Information Officer
London Fire Brigade
The Library
169 Union Street
London
SE1 0LL
e: libraryservices@london-fire.gov.uk
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Feedback
The publication scheme is new so we accept that we will only be able to gauge whether the structure and operation of the scheme is successful (or whether it needs modifying) when people start to use it. For that reason, your feedback is invaluable to us. If you have any comments on the scheme or suggestions for the contents of the scheme please let us know by contacting the Information Access Team as above.
Review of the scheme
The publication scheme will be reviewed periodically and updated on a regular basis. When we receive regular requests for information contained within the publication scheme, which is not available via our website, we will consider whether the material should be made available in that way. When we receive requests for information that is not currently available through our publication scheme, we will consider whether it should be and may subsequently add it to the scheme.
We are committed to doing a full review of the scheme by December 2004, before the general right of access under the FOI Act comes into force in January 2005.
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Further information
Information about the fire service generally is also available from a number of other organisations. The websites listed below are an excellent source of information but the Authority takes no responsibility for and does not warrant the accuracy of information contained within them. Some of the public organisations listed here will have their own Freedom of Information publication scheme.
For further information about publication schemes, your rights under the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act, you may find it useful to contact the Information Commissioner:
Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
e: mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk
t: 01625 545 745
w: http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/
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Other languages
We will make the scheme available in most languages upon request. If you or someone you know would like a copy of the publication scheme in a different language please contact the Information Access Team. The length of time it takes us to deliver the scheme in the language requested will depend on how quickly we can get it translated. We will advise you as soon as we know.
Other formats and advice for people with disabilities
LFEPA is committed to ensuring that the London Fire Brigade provides an accessible service to all and recognises that disabled people are part of London's diverse community and its own workforce. LFEPA will strive to ensure that there is no discrimination against disabled people in any of its own functions, services or activities. If you have any special requirements or would like assistance in using the publication scheme, please contact the Information Access Team and we will make every effort to assist you.
We will make the scheme available in large print, braille and on audiotape upon request. If you or someone you know would like a copy of the publication scheme in a different format please contact the Information Access Team as above.
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For further information about the Freedom of Information publication scheme
Information Access Team
London Fire Brigade
169 Union Street
London
SE1 0LL
e: infoaccess@london-fire.gov.uk
t: 020 85551200
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last updated: 2008-04-21
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