Department for Culture Media and Sport
background to legislation
The Freedom of Information Act (FoI) 2000 received Royal Assent on 30 November 2000 and will be fully implemented on 1st January 2005, when it supersedes the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information 1997.
Scope of the Act
The Act applies to all public authorities. Schedule 1 to the Act gives more details, but the term public authorities is defined very widely. It includes the DCMS, its agencies and most DCMS sponsored public bodies.
Implementation
From 1st January 2005, public authorities will be required to answer requests for information under the Act.
Publication Schemes
It is a requirement of the Act that each public authority has a Publication Scheme setting out what information is published by the authority. The Publication Scheme specifies the classes of information that the authority publishes or intends to publish; the manner in which this will be done; and whether there is any charge for the information. The Publication Scheme allows easier access to information without the need for individuals to make a specific request for that information.
Right to Information
The Act grants a right to any person, anywhere, to be told whether a public authority holds specified information, and if so, to have that information communicated to them. The request has to be made in writing (which includes emails), and the applicant has to give their name and supply an address for correspondence. The request must describe the information that they are seeking. This individual right of access applies to all types of recorded information held by public authorities regardless of the age of the information. The Act does, however, set out some exemptions to this right that are, in most cases, subject to the public interest test.
The Act also places a number of obligations on public authorities about the way in which they provide information. Subject to the exemptions, anyone making a request must be informed whether the public authority holds the information and, if so, be supplied with it within 20 working days. There is also a duty to provide advice or assistance to anyone seeking information (for example in order to explain what is readily available or to clarify what is wanted.)
There are parallel access regimes for two specific types of information. Any requests for environmental information will be dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Requests for information where the requester is the subject of the information (a "subject access request") are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. A subject access request should be made under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Charging
The Department for Constitutional Affairs have made Fees Regulations, which set out what charges public authorities can make for requests for information. However, DCMS's policy is not to charge for providing information where to do so costs less than the "appropriate limit", which is currently £600 [Note: The "appropriate limit" means such amount as may be set by the regulations.]
Where the cost of providing information would exceed £600 DCMS will generally not provide the information. However, the Department may be able to provide some of the information requested if it can be supplied within the appropriate limit.
Right of Review
In cases where the applicant is dissatisfied with the response to the request for information, they may seek an internal review of the case by the department. If the applicant remains unhappy after the internal review is concluded, they may complain to the Information Commissioner.
Information Commissioner
Responsibility for overseeing the operation of the Act rests with the Information Commissioner, which is an independent authority directly accountable to Parliament.
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