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This section gives you information about what you can ask for under the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts
Freedom of Information Act 2000
About the Act
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, anyone has the right to request information held by public authorities or companies wholly owned by public authorities in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and non-devolved public bodies in Scotland.
Anyone can ask for information held by a public body, either as an individual, or on behalf of an organisation.
How to request information and what it can cost
Some of the information might already be on our website, and the A-Z of our services, found under the services tab at the top of the page, might give you the information you want.
If you can’t find what you are looking for on our website, there are 3 ways you can make a request to us.
1. Write to us at the following address:
South Essex Homes
PO Box 5817
Southend-on-Sea
Essex SS1 9EL
2. E-mail us at the following address:
3. Complete the on-line form which can be found on the following link:
You can’t ask us for information by telephone as all requests must be made in writing (including e-mail and through the on-line form).
When you ask us for information, please describe the information that is requested as clearly as possible – the more specific your request is, the easier it is for us to find the information for you. We also need to know the name of the applicant, and an address or e-mail address that we can send the reply to.
We can ask you to pay us 10 pence for each sheet of paper we send to you, up to A3 size. If the charges total less than £10, we will not ask you to pay any costs. If there are any costs to be paid, we will tell you what these are, and ask you to send us payment before we send you the information.
However, if your request is for a lot of information or is very complex, then the Act says that we do not generally have to provide information if the cost is in excess of £450 (£450 is calculated on the basis of 18 hours work at £25 per hour.) In these circumstances, we would try to help you change your request to bring the costs to less than £450.00
We aim to respond to you within 20 working days from the date we receive your request. If we can’t give you the information you want within that time, we will contact you.
Sometimes there are good reasons why we might not be able to give you all of the information you requested. The Act contains exemptions that allow us to protect legitimate interests. For example, if you ask for information that might endanger health and safety, or information that might cause us to breach a court order, or for personal/confidential data, we would not be able to supply you with the information.
South Essex Homes can only provide you with information held by us. We cannot provide you with information held by Southend Borough Council, and you should contact them if your request is not specific to the services or data provided by South Essex Homes.
Data Protection Act 1998
About the Act
The Data Protection Act of 1998 gives you the right to ask us what information we hold about you. It also sets out rules about how we process your personal data.
The Basics
The Data Protection Act states 8 basic principles that anyone who holds personal data must follow. The Act says that personal information must be:
- Fairly and lawfully processed
- Processed for limited purposes
- Adequate, relevant and not excessive
- Accurate and up to date
- Not kept for longer than is necessary
- Processed in line with your rights
- Secure
- Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection
We keep personal information to allow us to provide you with the services you require, and to keep a record of these services.
You can ask us for a copy of the information we keep about you. There are two ways you can make a request to us.
1. Write to us at the following address:
South Essex Homes
PO Box 5817
Southend-on-Sea
Essex SS1 9EL
2. Complete the online Subject Access Request form, which can be found on the following link: We will ask you to pay a £10.00 fee towards our administration costs, and you must send us this payment before we send you the information. You will receive a copy of any information that is held about you, whether this is in paper or electronic form. However, any information that identifies anyone else will be blanked out so that you cannot read it.
We aim to respond to you as soon as possible, but the Act says that we should reply within 40 calendar days.
If you think that any of the information is incorrect, then you must write to us, stating which data is incorrect and asking for the data to be corrected. Within 21 days of receiving your request, we will tell you what has been done. But your requested changes must be factually accurate, and not an opinion. If we do not agree that the information is incorrect, you can ask us to record your disagreement on your records. You can also appeal to the Information Commissioner or the courts.
South Essex Homes can only provide you with information that we hold about you. We cannot provide you with information held by Southend Borough Council, and you should contact them if your request is not specific to the services or data provided by South Essex Homes.
You can find more information about the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts on the Information Commissioner’s website at http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Need more information?
For more information about this service please contact us
- Write to: South Essex Homes
PO Box 5817
Southend-on-Sea
Essex SS1 9EL
- Freephone: 0800 833 160
- Email:foi@seh.southend.gov.uk
- Minicom: 0800 833 162
Our spending over £500
The Government has launched a Transparency Agenda for the public sector. This agenda is overseen by the Local Public Data Panel and provides a lead for the publication of public data. Licence for use
All the information is published under the same terms as the UK Open Government Licence. It allows the information to be shared and reused for commercial purposes.
Spending over £500
The reports on transactions over £500 will be placed on this website quarterly. These reports can be found in the download section at the bottom of this page. The first report contains information from April 2010 to the end of November 2010.
Contracts and Procurement Information
This will be published as soon as relevant guidance is available.
Further Information
In the downloads section you can also find a copy of the letter which was sent to all current suppliers (including sole traders). Additionally, any new supplier who wishes to conduct business with South Essex Homes will receive this letter and will be expected to comply with the transparency agenda.
If you need any further information concerning this data, please email us at paymentsover500@seh.southend.gov.uk with details of your enquiry and one of our team will respond as soon as possible. Please note that although we aim to respond within 5 working days, on occasions it may take a little longer. Please also note that under the Data Protection Act 1998, some information must be redacted (withheld) in order to protect the privacy of individuals. There are also other limited circumstances in which information should be redacted, and we will not be able to supply further information if to do so would breach the terms of the Data Protection Act. | 
