Project brief and context diagram

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Problem statement

Requests for information reach the council through a shared mailbox, staff inboxes, the post and the phone. They are tracked in one spreadsheet, and each due date is typed in by hand MINE DEC-05. The regime is decided at the end, while the draft reply is checked (AS-06) MINE DEC-05. Nothing in the record shows how a deadline was counted, or whether it was restarted or extended MINE DEC-05.

Two laws apply to the same inbox. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 covers most information LAW SRC-01 s.1(1). The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 cover environmental information, which at a council means planning, waste, noise and much else LAW SRC-03 reg. 2(1). Environmental information is handled under the EIR, whatever law the applicant names LAW SRC-01 s.39(1).

Both regimes count 20 working days from the date of receipt LAW SRC-01 s.10(1), SRC-03 reg. 5(2). Around that clock they differ. A FOIA request must be in writing and give a real name, while an EIR request may be oral and needs no real name LAWGUIDE SRC-01 s.8(1), SRC-04 para 1.14, SRC-06. FOIA has a cost limit LAW SRC-02 reg. 3(3). The EIR have no fixed cost limit. A refusal under regulation 12 needs an exception and the public interest test, and a manifestly unreasonable request is one such exception LAW SRC-03 reg. 12(1), 12(4)(b). Under FOIA, saying that the information is not held answers the request; under the EIR it is a refusal LAW SRC-01 s.1(1), SRC-03 reg. 12(4)(a). A FOIA internal review is good practice under the Code, while EIR reconsideration is in the regulations LAWGUIDE SRC-04 para 5.3, SRC-03 reg. 11(2). A regime decided late means the wrong rules may already have been applied. Under FOIA, for example, the cost limit comes before any exemption GUIDE SRC-04 para 6.10.

From 30 September 2026 the regulator is the Information Commission LAW SRC-10 reg. 2. Every refusal notice must tell the applicant how to reach it LAW SRC-01 s.17(7), SRC-03 reg. 14(5).

Who has the problem

• STK-07, the request coordinator, counts every deadline by hand and decides the regime last MINE DEC-05.
• STK-06, the information governance lead, owns the process but cannot show from the record that each deadline was met or lawfully moved MINE DEC-05.
• STK-08, the information owners, search before anyone has said which regime applies MINE DEC-05.
• STK-14, the performance and statistics owner, counts the quarterly statistics from a spreadsheet that holds no restarts or extensions MINE DEC-05.
• STK-01, the applicant, is entitled to an answer within 20 working days under either regime LAW SRC-01 s.10(1), SRC-03 reg. 5(2).
• STK-04, the Information Commission, can decide a complaint about any request LAW SRC-01 s.50(1), SRC-03 reg. 18(1).

Objectives

1. One record for every request, from receipt to close, under both regimes.
2. The regime decided at the start, for each part of a request (DT-01).
3. Every deadline calculated from the published calendar, never typed, and reproducible from the record (NFR-04).
4. Refusals, part refusals and extensions checked by a second role before they go (BR-57).
5. The quarterly statistics produced from the record, in the seven measures (BR-55).

Scope

Context diagram

The process sits in the centre. Every box around it is a party that sends something to the process or receives something from it. A dashed arrow carries flows that are not in release 1 (DEC-02).

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Notation: context diagram. The rounded box is the process. Each square box is a party outside it. Each arrow is one direction between the process and one party, labelled with every flow it carries.

Success measures

Release 1 has worked when each measure below comes from the record, for any quarter, with no hand count. The seven statistics apply because the council has more than 100 full-time equivalent staff MINE DEC-04. No percentage target is set, because there is no baseline: the council's volumes are open question OQ-06 OPEN OQ-06.

Assumptions and constraints

Specimen requests

The specimen requests are test scenarios. They are dated after the snapshot, in 2026 and 2027, so that every deadline can be counted on the published calendar and some fall on its awkward days. No request was received on these dates MINE DEC-11.

The first deadline for each request is the 20th working day after the date of receipt, or the 40th where the EIR allow an extension LAW SRC-01 s.10(1), SRC-03 reg. 5(2), reg. 7(1). A FOIA public interest extension, an internal review and an unanswered clarification run on their own periods GUIDE SRC-04 para 2.9, 4.6, 5.4, 5.5. Non-working days come from the GOV.UK list for all three divisions GUIDE SRC-08. Day 1 is the first working day after the date of receipt GUIDEMINE SRC-05, SRC-06, DEC-03.

In EX-06 the supplier's objection is recorded as a fact only: an objection was received. Its wording and its arguments are not given. The public interest factors used with EX-06 are general ones, each with its reason, and no decision of the regulator or of a tribunal is relied on MINE DEC-11.

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