Everyone has the right to request information held by public sector organisations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which came into force in January 2005.
The FOI Act gives you the right to ask any public body for information they have on any subject you choose. Also, unless there's a good reason, the organisation must provide the information within 20 working days. You can also ask for all the personal information it holds on you. Such a request is dealt with under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.
The Freedom of Information Act applies to all 'public authorities' including:
Any person can make a request for information under the Act - there is no restrictions on your age, nationality, or where you live.
You can ask for any information at all - but some information might be withheld to protect various interests which are allowed for by the Act. If this is the case, the public authority must tell you why they have withheld information.
If you ask for information about yourself, then your request will be handled under the Data Protection Act; if you ask for information about other people (third parties), the FOI Act will apply. However, disclosure of personal information which would breach anyone else's rights under the Data Protection Act is not permitted.
All you have to do is write (or email) the public authority that you think holds the information you want. You should make sure that you include:
While you are not required to mention the FOI Act, it may assist public authorities in processing your request more speedily if you do. You should try to describe the information you want in as much detail as possible: for example, say minutes of the meeting where the decision to do X was made, rather than everything you have about X.
This will help the public authority find the information you need. It is important to remember that public authorities are obliged to respond to requests for 'information' rather than 'documents'. Though in certain circumstances the content of a whole document(s) may fall within the terms of a valid request.
All public authorities must adopt a Publication Scheme. The scheme describes the types of information that a public authority publishes routinely. It is worth bearing this in mind when you make your request, as the information you are seeking may be available already.
Public authorities must comply with your request promptly and should provide the information to you within 20 working days (around a month). If they need more time, they must write and tell you when they will answer and why they need more time.
Most requests are free. You might be asked to pay a small amount for making photocopies or postage.
If the public authority thinks that it will cost more than £450 (or £600 for a request to central government) to find the information and prepare it for release, then it can turn down your request. In such cases, the public authority should ask you to narrow down the scope of your request with a view to reducing its cost.
When you make a request you may ask that the information be given to you in a particular form. However, a public authority may take into account the cost of supplying the information in this form before complying with your request.
You should be able to receive the information:
You may also be able to receive it:
The Freedom of Information Act does not place restrictions on how you may use the information you receive under it. However, the Act does not transfer copyright in any information supplied under it.
If you plan to reproduce the information you receive, you should ensure that you will not be breaching anyone's copyright by doing so.
If your request for information is refused and you are unhappy, you should first ask the public authority for an internal review of its decision. Someone in the authority who was not connected with the initial decision should carry out this review. If you have already done this, or the public authority refuses to review its decision, you can appeal to the independent Information Commissioner.
The Information Commissioner has the power to investigate the way the public authority handled your request and the answer it gave. If the Commissioner agrees that it has wrongly withheld information, he can order the requested information to be disclosed to you.
If you disagree with the way the Information Commissioner responds to your appeal you may appeal against it. This will be handled by the Information Tribunal. This is strictly for use when you dispute the Information Commissioner's response and not the public authority or any other party's acts.
In addition to the rights mentioned above under the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) 2004 gives certain rights to access to Environmental Information. This includes information about the air and atmosphere, water, soil. land, landscape, substances, energy, noise, radiation or waste, emissions, discharges and so on, as well as information about policies which affect these things.
Under the EIRs there is no 'cost limit' for dealing with requests. However, requests that cost a disproportionate amount can be refused on the basis that they are 'manifestly unreasonable'.
Government, citizens and rights
