Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 gives members of the public the right to access information held by public bodies.

The Act covers any recorded information that is held by a ‘public authority’ in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Information held by Scottish public authorities is covered by Scotland’s own Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Organisations that fall under its scope are affected in two ways:

• They are obliged to publish certain information about their activities
• Members of the public are entitled to request information from them

Organisations covered by FoI

The Act covers a broad range of organisations, most of which are classed as public authorities, that is organisations that spend taxpayer money. These include government departments and their executive agencies, councils and local authorities, health authorities, the police, schools and academies, museums and galleries.

Private companies are not covered by the legislation, with the exception of cases where a private company is wholly owned by a public auth