A public authority, for the purposes of the Freedom of Information
Act, is an authority as defined by the Act. The FOI website provides
more information on the scope of the Act.
In summary, the majority of bodies that are "public authorities" for
the purpose of the FOI Act are listed in Schedule 1 to the Act, Section
4 gives the Secretary of State an order-making power to add to, or remove
from, Schedule 1 of the Act a reference to a body or an office which
fulfils two conditions:
That the body or office was established by any enactment, the
Crown prerogative, a government department or a Minister 'acting
in any other way; and
That all or any appointments to the body or office are made by
the Crown, a Minister or a government department.
If an organisation meets these conditions, it should be included in
an order made under this section. These Orders are made annually. Copies
of previous section 4 Orders are available at http://www.foi.gov.uk/secleg.htm#coverage.
Section 5 gives the Secretary of State an order-making power to designate
as a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information
Act, any private organisation which appears to him to be performing
public functions, or which is performing under contract the functions
of a public authority. Before making this type of Order, the Secretary
of State must consult the organisations he proposes to include within
it.
No Orders have yet been made under this section.
Section 6 provides that any companies which are wholly-owned by a
public authority listed in Schedule 1 are themselves public authorities
for the purposes of Freedom of Information. A company is wholly-owned
if it has no members other than members of its 'parent' public authority,
or people acting on behalf of that public authority.
All central government departments are public authorities for the
purpose of the FOIA.
