County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is committed to being open, accountable and transparent to the population it serves and the general public as a whole. The service is constantly striving to develop a culture of greater openness and awareness. It is important that information of public interest is widely and easily available.
The FOI Act gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities. It sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities.
The FOI Act is enforced by the Information Commissioner.
The FOI Act places two main duties on County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service:
- 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 1 January 2005 (this being the date from which the Act is fully effective)
You will be able to make a written request for information held by County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service which is not already published elsewhere, and is not exempt under the FOI Act. This is known as the general right of access.
Useful links in this section:
- Publication Scheme
[pdf]
Requests for Information
How do I get the Information that I want?
If the information you require is covered on our publication scheme and that information is available on the website.
Where no online version is available, you should apply for a hard copy to the Officer stated beside the document you require on the publication scheme.
If the information you require is not contained in the publication scheme then you must apply in writing to:-
Records Management Officer
County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service
Service Headquarters
Framwellgate Moor
Durham
DH1 5JR
When requesting information please include the following details:
- Your name and address
- The information or documents you would like to access
- The way in which you would like the information to be sent to you
- Contact telephone number (this is optional but it may be helpful if we need to clarify the information you have requested)
Alternatively you can complete a Request for Information form – hard copies of these can be obtained from Service Headquarters or any Fire Station within County Durham and Darlington.
When will I get a reply?
The information you require will be sent directly to you at the postal or email address which you have supplied.
We aim to despatch the information as soon as possible and in any case within 20 working days of receiving your request. If we have not responded within this time, please contact us immediately.
Further Information 
If you have any questions concerning your rights under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please complete the online Comments form>.
You can also obtain information from the Information Commissioner’s website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk or call the enquiry line on 01625 545745.
