This document is intended to provide advice on the handling of requests of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. While it is chiefly aimed at central government departments, it may also be of use to other public authorities subject to the Act.
It should be read in conjunction with other guidance available on this site.
A great deal of information is already routinely provided by public authorities, proactively or in response to individual requests and correspondence. But the Act creates a completely new system of fully enforceable rights of access which applies to all information held by all public authorities. The Act applies to all information, no matter how recent or how old. Full details of what publication schemes are and public authorities covered by the Act may be found at Annexes A and B.
The Act is designed to enable individuals to access even more information than they could before. This guidance addresses the procedures for both facilitating and managing that access.
The new rights of access signal a new recognition of, and commitment to, the public interest in openness about government. They are additional to other access rights, particularly to environmental information (under the Environmental Information Regulations) and to personal information (under the Data Protection Act), which the new access rights do not replace but supplement. Public authorities must therefore be prepared for interest in the exercise of these new rights, and for a high volume of information requests - especially in areas in which authorities may not necessarily have been accustomed to providing information.
Authorities are under an express duty to facilitate the exercise of the new rights, both through proactive publication schemes and by providing advice and assistance where necessary to those requesting access to information. This guidance seeks to help and support authorities in doing so.
In administering the Act, authorities should be mindful of the balance Parliament has struck in defining the new rights - a balance designed to ensure that access to information is delivered, but not to the point of inconsistency with other important aspects of the delivery of good government. Those boundaries are expressed in the Act itself in two ways - in the substantive exemption provisions (which are considered in the companion exemptions guidance) and also in a small but important number of procedural limitations which are considered further in this guidance.
Within that context, it is imperative that authorities establish operating systems for managing access to information, which deliver the new rights in full without diverting disproportionate resources away from core service delivery, or inappropriately absorbing the time of senior officials, lawyers or ministers. The overwhelming number of requests for information may be able to be dealt with straightforwardly by desk officers as simple administrative decisions - either because it is clear that the information sought can and must be disclosed, or because it is equally clear that it cannot or must not be disclosed. But there will be a range of other situations when it is not clear which category a request falls into, or where a request requires more complex or sensitive handling for other reasons. Handling procedures need to be sensitive to the difference, and this guidance seeks to help authorities prepare for that.
Procedures which fail effectively to deliver the access to which applicants are entitled not only undermine the purpose and spirit of the Act, but are likely to result in an inefficient over-engagement with internal complaints procedures and with the enforcement process. However, procedures which fail adequately to safeguard against the inappropriate disclosure of information in cases where there is no right of access have the potential to disrupt effective government and the interests of both other individuals and the public.
No procedures can be expected to eliminate the risk of erroneous decisions entirely. But it is essential that procedures are in place to acknowledge and manage those risks. To meet this challenge, authorities must address a number of procedural questions effectively. This guidance looks at those questions, and points to the sorts of responses they require.
In particular, departments need to ensure:
There are a number of other useful internet resources which provide guidance for officials dealing with information requests. The section 45 Code of Practice and the section 46 Code of Practice provide recommended best practice to be followed by public authorities to discharge their duties under the Act and records management practices respectively. In addition, the Information Commissioner's Office also provides detailed guidance in the form of awareness guides and The National Archives provide advice on records management.