January 2002
The Freedom of Information Act 2000
What are the aims of this Act and why do we need it?
Many people believe that government bodies and civil service departments are not accountable enough to the general public. The aim of this Act is to enable people to request and obtain information about public authorities e.g. the NHS, schools, local authorities etc. At the very least the Act states a "duty to confirm or deny" possession of the relevant information.
How Does the Requesting System Operate?
Any request from a member of the public must be received in a tangible form e.g. in writing, by email and be capable of future reference i.e. legible stating the name and address of the requesting correspondent. The department receiving the request then has 20 working days from receipt in which to source the whereabouts of the relevant information and supply it.
A fee can be charged for this service so long as it is reasonable and within the Secretary of State's guidelines although this must be paid within 3 months of invoice. If a fee is to be paid the authority has 20 days from the payment of the fee. The member of the public can ask that the information be supplied in any reasonable format including permanent entire copy, personal inspection or a summary of the information. There are evidently occasions when some of the above methods will not be suitable although every effort must be made to comply with the preferred format stated.
A fee can be charged for this service so long as it is reasonable and within the Secretary of State's guidelines although this must be paid within 3 months of invoice. Fortunately this is not quite as onerous as it first appears. There is provision made in the Act to avoid having to respond to vexatious or repeated requests. A wide range of grounds for refusal to supply information have been built into Part II of the Act. There are essentially two types of exempt information:
· Absolute exemption.
Þ Court records
Þ Parliamentary privilege
Þ Information provided in confidence
Þ Information where disclosure would be in contempt of court
Þ Information related to certain security bodies
Þ Information that is already accessible to the public via other means.
· Exemption on the basis of a test for public interest
Public authorities are entitled to refuse requests but must be able to show that it is in the public interest to do so. Examples of such types of information include;
Þ Information prejudicial to national security, defence or international relations
Þ Information that would harm internal UK relations with other bodies e.g. the National Assembly of Wales or Northern Irish Assembly.
Þ Information that would harm the economy or financial interests of the UK
Þ Information used in investigations or proceedings leading to someone being charged with an offence whether civil or criminal.
Þ Information whose disclosure would impede a current investigation or detection of a crime/criminal.
Þ Information endangering the security of prisons, tax, health and safety or immigration.
Þ Personal data of civil service/government employees.
Þ Information constituting a trade secret or legal professional privilege
Þ Royal communications
Who Governs the Application of this Act?
The Information Commissioner is an independent official charged with overall responsibility for proper implementation of the legislation and reporting to parliament. If the Information Commissioner deems that a public authority has not complied with the Act following a complaint made she can serve a "decision notice" on the authority and the complainant. This notice contains details of steps which the authority must take to resolve the issue, a time limit and information on the right to appeal. Failure to comply with a decision notice can result in a court enquiry.
Both the complainant and the public authority have the right to appeal to a tribunal. If the appeal revolves upon a point of law, the appeal can be referred to the relevant High Court (or Court of Session in Scotland).
What will this mean in terms of workload and timescale?
The Act states that every public authority must adopt and maintain a publication scheme and must publish information in accordance with the document. The scheme must specify the various classes of documents, the manner in which claims are intended to be published and also the relevant fee scale. Certain information is likely to become the subject of routine publication.
If an authority feels that an exemption applies they must inform the requesting person of the reasons for refusal and of the complaints procedure.
The wider implications of the Act do not come into force until 2005 however the publication schemes and codes of practice detailed above will be formulated and published between now and then.
How Does the Right to Information Work with Data Protection Restrictions?
Public authorities cannot release personal information regarding third parties if it would result in breach of the Data Protection Act. The Freedom of Information Act has created a new definition of data for the purposes of the Data Protection Act extending the original definition of "data" to include all personal information held by a public authority including structured or unstructured manual records. It should be noted however that in respect of this data the only rights that exist are the rights to correct this information and the right to access this information.