Freedom of Information

The DHSSPS publication scheme sets out to facilitate greater public access to information held by the Department. It details information which:

A copy of the Department's Publication Scheme document (PDF 89 KB) is available to download here.

The administration of the Department is organised under the Permanent Secretary, Dr Andrew McCormick, into several groups and one executive agency. The groups are:

and the executive agency is the Northern Ireland Health and Social Services Estates Agency (known as Health Estates).

The Department also has responsibility for 2 Non-Departmental Public Bodies, namely, the Mental Health Commission for Northern Ireland and the Fire Authority for Northern Ireland. The Mental Health Commission for Northern Ireland is producing its own publication scheme for 1 November 2002 and the Fire Authority for Northern Ireland will produce its own publication scheme for 1 February 2003 in line with the timetable for fire authorities in England and Wales.

Every public authority is required to adopt and maintain a publication scheme setting out the classes of information it holds, the manner in which it intends to publish the information, and whether a charge will be made for the information. The purpose of a scheme is to ensure a significant amount of information is available, without the need for a specific request. Schemes are intended to encourage organisations to publish more information pro-actively and to develop a greater culture of openness.

The Information Commissioner will be responsible for the approval of publication schemes and enforcement of the Act. The Information Commissioner post combines regulation of both the Freedom of Information (FOI) and Data Protection Acts.

Under Section 19(1) of the FOI Act every public authority has to adopt and maintain a publication scheme, to publish information in accordance with its scheme and, from time to time, to review its publication scheme.

Under Section 19(2) of the FOI Act a publication scheme must specify:

Under Section 19(3) of the FOI Act a public authority, in adopting or reviewing a publication scheme, shall have regard to the public interest in allowing public access to information held by the authority and in the publication of reasons for decisions made by the public authority.

The Department has considered its statutory equality obligations for this publication scheme under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Equality Commission’s screening criteria have been applied and there is no evidence of significant implications on the equality of opportunity duty within the terms of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act. Therefore, there is no requirement to carry out an equality impact assessment on this publication scheme.

Responsibility for this Publication Scheme

The senior manager responsible for this publication scheme is the Director of Personnel and Corporate Services. The Departmental Information Manager, Michael McArdle has responsibility for the day-to-day maintenance of the publication scheme.

The Department’s approach in determining the classes to be included in this publication scheme has been to be as open as possible and to cover all aspects of the Department’s work. The aim is to publish as much information as possible taking into account possible exemptions, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

This publication scheme specifies:

Classes of Information – The classes of information have been drawn up by the Department to help ensure easy access by the public to available information. However, some classes of information may contain information that may be subject to an exemption (under Sections 21 to 44 of the FOI Act) and these have been identified, for example, where personal data or security is involved.

Publication of Information – Information already published, or intended to be published, is, or will be, available in different formats. The formats available may depend on the information requested and normally will be in either electronic or printed form. Documents which are published on the site are also generally available in printed form, examples of details are provided.

Charges for Information – Information downloaded from this site is free of charge. Other information, for example, in a bound and printed format that is provided within the publication scheme may be charged for at the appropriate rate. The publication scheme shows whether or not a class of information contains chargeable material. However, the Department reserves the right to make a charge to cover the administrative costs of, for example, providing multiple copies of documents, which otherwise would be provided free, or retrieving information from archives.

The Department makes available its key documents on audio tape and in Braille, Irish and Cantonese and it will make this publication scheme similarly available. The Department will also consider requests for translations of the publication scheme into other minority ethnic languages.

Copyright of all material obtained through the publication scheme remains with the originator of the material (for example, the Department, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, etc.) as appropriate, although it may be reproduced for the purposes of private study or research.