OPEN GOVERNMENT
How to obtain information from the Treasury under the Code of Practice on Government Information.
All central government departments are committed under the Code of Practice to:
- give facts and analysis with major policy decisions;
- make available operational guidelines about dealings with the public;
- give reasons with administrative decisions;
- provide information under the Citizen's Charter about public services, their costs, targets, performance, complaints and redress procedures;
- answer requests for information.
The Code of Practice explains what kind of information should be available and also that which cannot be made public under a list of exemptions. Subject to these points, if you want information which falls within the Treasury's responsibilities, we will do our best to provide this for you.
Much of the Treasury's work is concerned with policies where the lead interest, and therefore the responsibility for any publicity or information, falls to another department. The main areas of Treasury work that fall within the scope of the Code, for broad policy purposes, are as follows. The list is not exclusive.
- macroeconomic policy
- public expenditure control at the macro level
- private finance in the public sector
- privatisation and contracting out
- financial management and value for money
- Civil Service pay and personnel policy
- public purchasing policy
- aspects of City regulation
- UK initiatives on financial matter in international fora
- monetary policy
- funding policy
- the note issue.
Applying for information
Please send requests by post to the Treasury's Open Government Contact, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ, explaining, in as much detail as possible, what information you want. (It helps us if you use the application form.) You do not have to specify particular documents or files (and the Code does not entitle you to see them).
Internal links
Time to meet requests
For simple requests, the Treasury has a target of 20 working days starting from the day the request is received if there is no charge or from the time any payment is cleared. You will be told if your request is likely to take longer.
Information provided free of charge
Some information is already provided free such as copies of Ministers' speeches and brochures explaining Departmental policies.
There may be a charge for a request for other information which causes additional work which it would otherwise have been unnecessary for the Treasury to undertake.
Charges for simple requests
The first hour of work for processing simple requests for information will be provided free.
Requests expected to take more than 1 hour but less than 3 hours of one person's time will be charged at Pounds 15 an hour or part of an hour thereafter.
You will be given an estimate of the charge. Any charge due must be paid before work is undertaken.
These charges are intended to cover the costs of processing the requests for information and are payable whether or not the information in question can be supplied in full.
Charges for more complex requests
For requests expected to take more than 3 hours of one person's time to prepare, applicants will be given an estimate of the amount of the charge. If you wish to proceed, normally you will be asked to pay in full before any work is undertaken.
This charge should not exceed the cost of providing the information requested. The cost will depend upon the nature of the request and the time spent retrieving and preparing the information by different grades of staff.
There may be occasions when it is discovered that the cost of providing the information will be greater than originally estimated. A revised estimate may then be sent to you and work will continue on receipt of the additional payment. If you are unwilling to pay this additional charge, you should receive any work which has been done to date and has been paid for.
Charges will normally be based on the cost of the extra work directly related to the request, that is the time of the officials doing the retrieval and the decision work and other direct costs such as copying. Charges will exclude fixed costs such as accommodation and other overheads. Higher rates may be charged where the application requires expert attention, for example to decide whether technical information is commercially confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure.
Charges will not be made to cover:
- any time spent by senior management in deciding policy on particular disclosures;
- excessive time spent retrieving information when the difficulties due to errors in record keeping;
- excessive time spent on the preparation of new material when it would have been practicable within the policy set out in the
Code, and more cost-effective, to provide edited copies of the original document.
The form in which information is given will normally be the most cost-effective from the department's point of view. This should help to reduce costs to the applicant. If you wish to have information in a particular form, however, you should enquire when you make an application.
Forms of payment
Payment should be made by cheque or postal order payable to HM Treasury and crossed "Account Payee only". These should be sent with the relevant estimate form to the Accounts Section, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.
Responding by preparing a new publication
If the Treasury has received several requests for information relating to a particular matter, we may decide to respond by preparing a note for general publication as soon as possible. This will usually be less expensive for the applicant than charging for the work in full to meet a single request. The Treasury will keep applicants in touch with what is going on and avoid undue delay.
Complaints
If your application is refused or you think a proposed or actual charge is unreasonable, you may write to the Treasury seeking a review. If, subsequently, you are still not satisfied with the explanation or the basis of the charge, a complaint may be made through your Member of Parliament to the Ombudsman.
Priced publications and charged information services
The Code does not entitle applicants to free copies of priced government publications or free use of information services for which there is normally a charge. On the other hand the Treasury will not introduce charges for information that is normally provided free of charge.
VAT
Charges for the provision of information under the Code by government departments or other public bodies and authorities are not subject to VAT.