Information access - charges and fees
The Department intends to place most of its information in the Publication Scheme on our website, and make it available free of charge (although the user will have to meet any charges by their Internet service provider, personal printing costs and so on). Equally, most information requests made to the Department will be processed without charge. However, there may be some publications for which you will need to pay.
If you do not have access to the Internet, we can post you a single printout of documents held in the Publication Scheme without charge. However, if you ask for multiple copies, or for archived copies of documents which are no longer available on the website, you may have to pay a charge to cover costs to the Department (e.g. searching for the material, photocopying, postage, etc.).
Charging schedule
Where we do charge, the current rates are:
- A5 copies: £0.10
- A4 copies: £0.10
- A3 copies: £0.10
- A2 copies: £2.00
- A1 copies: £5.00
- A0 copies: £5.00
- maps: £5.00
- staff time: £25 per hour (in line with the FOI)
- any relevant postal charges
We will let you know at the time of your request if you need to pay a charge. If you do have to pay a charge, this will be clearly shown against the individual documents concerned.
You must pay any charge before we can send the documents to you.