Department of Children & Family Services

Publication Schemes

Each public authority covered by the Freedom of Information Law has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a publication scheme in accordance with s. 5 of the FOI Law. The main purpose of a publication scheme is to make information readily available without the need for specific written requests. Schemes are intended to encourage organisations to publish proactively, and develop a greater culture of openness.

The Law states that Information to be published by public authorities includes:-

• the functions of the authority, what work it does and how it sets about its tasks.
• the departments and agencies of the authority.
• the subjects handled by each department or authority, with the locations of the departments and agencies and the opening hours of all offices.
• the title and business address of the Principal Officer and other key officers within the authority.
• Classes of records held.
• Manuals, interpretations, rules, guidelines, practices or precedents.

Please check our publications section to see if the information you would like is not already available.