Who to send your information request to:
When asking for information of any kind, you can address it to any department or individual. You do not have to go through the addresses below. Your request will still be handled under the appropriate Laws or regulations.
You can also use this information to ask an environmental information regulations question.
For all other areas contact:
Business Intelligence and Performance
Sefton Council
2nd Floor
Magdalen House
30 Trinity Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 3NJ
0345 140 0845
Our aims
The Council is committed to the proactive dissemination of information, to be open and transparent and will publish information unless restricted by legislation. Like all other public sector organisations, the Council is required to make the information it holds available unless subject to an exemption. We put as much information as we can onto the pages of our website.
The following advice comes from the Information Commissioner’s Office, the regulator for FOIA and EIR in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Using AI to help draft information requests?
AI tools can be helpful, but they can also introduce errors or create overly complex requests that increase the burden on public bodies and cost to the taxpayer.
When using AI to help draft an information request, please make sure the final wording has been checked and reflects your actual information needs.
Before you submit a request or secondary correspondence, please check that:
You are only asking for the information you are genuinely looking for.
AI tools sometimes generate broad or excessive wording that goes beyond the information you actually want or need;
The request is clear, concise and focused.
Short, straightforward requests are easier for us to process and usually lead to quicker, more accurate responses;
There are no obvious factual inaccuracies.
AI can misrepresent legislation or misstate what organisations do. Please review the text of your request carefully and don’t assume AI is right. If it has referred to something you don’t understand, check what it is; and
The tone is appropriate.
AI-generated content can sometimes sound abrupt, or otherwise inappropriate. Please check the tone before sending.
Why does this matter?
We are seeing an increase in requests and secondary correspondence that appear to have been drafted by generative AI. These can require additional clarification because of inaccuracies or unnecessary complexity. This creates delays for both requesters and our teams.
Need guidance?
You can find advice on making effective information requests on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.
This advice comes from the Information Commissioner’s Office, the regulator for FOIA and EIR in England, Wales and Northern Ireland’
Publication scheme
Our FOI Publication Scheme is based on the model scheme developed by the Information Commissioners Office and outlines the classes of information that we commit to publish under the Freedom of Information Act. It also gives guidance on charging, and how to request access to records that we do not make directly available.
| Sefton Council Publication Scheme - June 2024 |  (pdf 86KB) |
| Performance data 2024/25 | (pdf 46KB) |
| Performance data 2025/26 | (pdf 68KB) |