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ABOUT COMMUNITY
RELATIONS COUNCIL -
OUR
SERVICES
Freedom Of Information
Freedom of Information Act
CRC Publication Scheme
As required by section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act (2000) this Publication Scheme sets out the types of information held by the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council which it will routinely publish and make available to the public. The Scheme also specifies the format in which that information will be made available and any conditions or exemptions which might apply. The Council undertakes to review its Publication Scheme on a regular basis.
Introduction
The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council was established in 1990 as a registered charity and independent company. It acts as a development agency for peace in Northern Ireland and aims to enable change towards a society free from sectarianism. Support and advice is provided by the Council to community relations initiatives in the voluntary and community sector as well as guidance to public sector bodies addressing their 'Good Relations' obligations under section 75(2) of the NI Act (1998). The Council receives core-funding and most of its programme costs from the Community Relations Unit at the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) in the Northern Ireland Executive. It also acts as an intermediary funding body (IFB) for the European Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.
Responsibility for the Publication Scheme lies with the Council's Director of Communications, currently Ray Mullan, who can be contacted at email: rmullan@nicrc.org.uk.
Responsibility for the day to day maintenance of the Scheme lies with the Manager of the Community Relations Resource Centre, Patricia O'Neill, who can be contacted at email: poneill@nicrc.org.uk
The Council's postal address is 6 Murray Street, Belfast BT1 6DN.
Tel: 029 90 227500, Fax: 028 90 227551.
Classes of Information
The Community Relations Council in determining which classes of information to include in this Publication Scheme has been influenced by the public interest, our experience of the nature of public enquiries into our work, existing database capacity and electronic record keeping, and the need to respect confidentiality under the Data Protection Act. The contents of this scheme do not affect the rights of the public under other sections of the Freedom of Information Act to request individual access to specific information held by the Council.
The following classes of information are available under the Scheme:
(1) Grant Scheme Criteria and application processes
This will include the aims and objectives of the Council's various grant schemes, the criteria which are to be applied when assessing grant applications, any restrictions or limitations on grant aid and outlines of the process of application.
These will be available on the Council's web-site and in printed form. They are free of charge.
(2) Grant Awards
This will include all grant awards made under the Council's various grant schemes and will contain information on the name of the organisation receiving an award, a short description of the nature of the project and the amount awarded.
This information will be published annually in the Council's Annual Report and the most recent copy will be made available on the Council's web-site. Annual Reports for years before 1998-99 give grant amounts by level only. Printed copies of the Annual Reports are available on request, free of charge, while printed copies are still in stock. Photocopies of grant awards from out-of-print back copies are available free of charge.
(3) Annual Audited Accounts
These are the officially audited accounts of the Council covering the April-March financial year and are published in the Council's printed Annual Report, available free of charge. The most recent copy is also available on the Council's web-site.
(4) Staffing Structure
This is an outline of the current staffing structure in the Council with names of the individual staff and their posts of responsibility within the organisation. It will be available on the Council's web-site and printed copies available free on request.
(5) Publications List
This is a list of all publications produced by the Council and available in print or on-line from our web-site. It includes books, reports, leaflets, posters, guidelines and application forms. The list is available from our web-site where it is up-dated regularly.
(6) Minutes of Council Meetings
Copies of the Confirmed Minutes of the Council's meetings and decision-making sub-committees taking place after 30 November 2002. The most recent copy of the confirmed Minutes will be routinely available on the CRC web-site from January 2003. This class of information may contain exempt information. Where this is withheld reasons for doing so will be given.
The Council intends to publish the following classes of information at a later date:
(7) Grant Applications
This will be a list of all grant applications received under various grant schemes, whether successful or not. Delay in making this information routinely available is due to re-organisation of the Council database and IT systems. It is anticipated that this information will be available free of charge from 2003 in printed form at the end of each financial year.
