Freedom of Information Act 2000

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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 confers a general right of access to information held by public authorities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities. Any person (regardless of nationality, residence, or purpose) may make a request for information and the public authority must respond within 20 working days, confirming whether it holds the information and (if so) communicating it, subject to exemptions. The Act creates two types of exemption: absolute exemptions (where the public interest in disclosure is conclusively overridden, such as personal data, court records, and information provided in confidence from a state) and qualified exemptions (where the information may nevertheless be disclosed if the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in maintaining the exemption). The Act established the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as the independent regulator, with powers to investigate complaints, issue enforcement notices, and bring enforcement proceedings. The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) run alongside FOIA for environmental information, with a slightly different regime. The Act does not apply to personal data requests, which are governed by the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

Pwyntiau allweddol

• General right of access — any person may request information from a public authority; the authority must confirm or deny whether it holds the information and, if so, communicate it (s.1)
• Public authorities — a wide list including all government departments, local authorities, NHS bodies, schools, universities, courts, and publicly owned companies (s.3 and Sch.1)
• 20 working day response deadline from receipt of the request (s.10); extensions permitted for the public interest test
• Publication schemes — every public authority must adopt and publish a scheme setting out what classes of information it proactively publishes (s.19)
• Absolute exemptions — include information accessible by other means (s.21), national security (s.23), parliamentary privilege (s.34), court records (s.32), personal information (s.40), and information provided in confidence from a foreign state
• Qualified exemptions — include defence (s.26), international relations (s.27), law enforcement (s.31), formulation of government policy (s.35), and commercial interests (s.43) — all subject to the public interest balancing test
• Duty to confirm or deny may itself be exempted under some absolute and qualified exemptions (s.2)
• Information Commissioner enforcement — can issue decision notices, information notices, and enforcement notices; appeals lie to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) (s.57)

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