Freedom of information — overviewRight of access to information

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) creates a right of access to information held by public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 applies. Any person or organisation may make a request; no particular form, or reason, is necessary. The public body (which includes central and local government, NHS, educational, police and military bodies) must inform the applicant whether it holds the information (duty to inform), and if so supply it (duty to supply), within 20 working days; a fee may be charged.

Exceptions to duties

Exemptions from the second, or both duties lies in the cases listed below. Some such exemptions apply both to the duty to inform, and the duty to supply. Others apply only to the latter, and the duty to inform remains. Exemptions apply in the case of:

• repeated or vexatious requests or where the cost would exceed a limit, currently £600

• information:

• • accessible elsewhere or relating to security organisations

  • in court records or protected by Parliamentary privilege

  • whose disclosure would otherwise be prohibited (eg because it would constitute contempt of court)

  • and others

• information whose release might prejudice:

• • national security

  • defence

  • UK relations abroad

  • law enforcement

  • health and safety

  • legal professional privilege

  • commercial interests,

  • and others, and

• personal data (obtainable under the Data Protection Act 1998, subject to certain exemptions).

The exemptions in the second bullet are absolute; the right to know does not apply. Those in the third bullet are qualified; the public body must balance the public interest in applying the exemption against that in disclosing the information. Commercial interests means trade secrets or information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice any person's commercial interests. The scope of this exemption is not, as yet, clear, and the decision to disclose is that of the public authority. This should be borne in mind when supplying sensitive information to such entities. A public body must disclose whether or not it holds trade secrets, but need not supply it if it thinks that such is the balance of public interest. It need not disclose whether or not it holds other commercially sensitive information, again subject to the public interest test.

Appeals

If an applicant thinks his request has been wrongly rejected, or is dissatisfied with the information provided, he may apply to the Information Commissioner. The latter may compel a public body to comply with disclosure obligations through decision or enforcement notices. Appeals from such orders lie to the Information Tribunal. Appeal does not lie against a public body's decision to disclose; this may be particularly relevant in respect of commercial information.

Publication schemes

FOIA also requires public bodies to maintain publication schemes, approved by the Information Commissioner, for the release of certain information (eg accounts).

Retrospective application

FOIA is retrospective, so applies to all information held by public bodies, whenever recorded.

Environmental information

Requests for environmental information fall under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. These are similar, but not identical, to FOIA. In particular, all exceptions are subject to the public interest test.