Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) came into force at the beginning of 2005. It deals with access to official information, while parallel regulations deal with environmental information. The Act provides individuals or organisations with the right to request information held by a public authority and also requires public authorities to have an approved publication scheme, which is a means of providing access to information which an authority proactively publishes.

The Act is fully retrospective and applies to all information, not just information filed since the Act came into force.

If you wish to request information held by a public authority, you can do so either by letter or email; your request can take the form of a question. The public authority must tell you whether it holds the information and must normally supply it within 20 working days in the format requested. However, the public authority does not have to confirm or deny the existence of the information or provide it if an exemption applies, the request is vexatious or similar to a previous request or if the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit. If an exemption applies, but is qualified, this means that the public authority must decide whether the public interest in using the exemption outweighs the public interest in releasing the information.

The public authority is entitled to charge a fee for the information requested, but they must issue a fees notice specifying the fee that is being charged by the authority in complying with a request made under section 1 of the FOIA. The fee cannot be more than either the maximum fee permitted by Regulation 6 of the Fees Regulations or a fee permitted by other legislation.

If you are unhappy about the way in which the public authority responds to your request you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. However, you should initially complain to the public authority itself, asking it to review what has happened. Any complaint to the Information Commissioner should be made as soon as possible, or within two months following the final response of the public authority.

Please call us on 01252 617119 to find out how we can assist you.