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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA) received
royal assent on 30 November 2000 and was fully implemented across the
public sector on 1 January 2005. It gives a general right of access to
all types of recorded information held by public authorities (defined
in the Act to include universities), sets out exemptions from that right,
and places a number of obligations on public authorities.
Individuals have the right of access to information
about themselves under the Data Protection Act 1998. The Freedom of Information
Act 2000 extends a right of public access to all types of information
held by public bodies. The purpose of the FoIA is to promote greater openness
and accountability across the public sector. It requires all public authorities
to be ready to disclose the information they hold in two ways.
1. Right of access (Section 1)
From 1 January 2005 there is a general right of access
to all information held by public bodies. The FoIA outlines some limited
exemptions which relate to issues such as national security, law enforcement,
commercial interests and data protection, but in each case where a public
body wishes to withhold information, it must consider whether the public
interest is served better by withholding or disclosing that information.
On receipt of a written request, the public body is obliged to inform
any enquirer whether it holds the information in question and if it does,
subject to exemptions, to supply that information to the enquirer within
20 working days.
2. Publication scheme (Section 19)
Public authorities are also placed under a duty to
actively publish information which they hold, through the adoption and
maintenance of publication schemes. A publication scheme is a guide detailing
the types (or classes) of information which are to be made routinely available.
It provides the public with a simpler means of obtaining information and
reduces the need for the public authority to respond to requests made
under the general right of access. Higher and further education publication
schemes had to be submitted for approval by the Information Commissioner
by 31 December 2003 and became operational on 29 February 2004.
The FoIA is enforced by the Information Commissioner,
an independent public official responsible directly to Parliament, who
oversees both freedom of information and data protection legislation.
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