The Freedom of Information Act 2000

Referencing system and changes in text size/bold text added.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities.

1. It does this in two ways:
2.  
3. public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities; and
4.  
5. members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.
6.  
7. 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.  
8.  
9. Information held by Scottish public authorities is covered by Scotland’s own Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
   
   Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces. 
10.  
11. However, the Act does not necessarily cover every organisation that receives public money. 
12.  
13. For example, it does not cover some charities that receive grants and certain private sector organisations that perform public functions.
15. Recorded information includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails, photographs, and sound or video recordings.

      source

      pagetop