Freedom of Information FAQs – For the public

You have the right to request any information held by public authorities. The Act allows access to recorded information, such as emails, meeting minutes, research or reports, held by public authorities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and some authorities located in Scotland. Scottish public authorities are subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

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The Freedom of Information Act applies to information that is held by a public authority and sets out which bodies and offices are considered public authorities for the purpose of the Act:

• government departments (this includes Non Departmental Government Bodies);
• Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the National Assembly for Wales;
• the armed forces (but not Special Forces or units working with Government Communications Headquarters);
• local authorities;
• NHS bodies;
• the Police;
• other bodies and Offices such as regulators and advisory committees;
• Wholly Owned Companies; and
• some bodies are only covered for certain sorts of information such as the BBC and Channel 4;

Other bodies not listed in the Act can be brought under the Act by a section 4 or section 5 order, these are laid by the Ministry of Justice. 

If you wish to find out if a particular body is covered by the Act you should contact the Ministry of Justice who have responsibility for coverage. A basic guide to whether you are covered can be found on the website of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, although this is no longer updated.

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Under the Freedom of Information Act, any individual, anywhere in the world, is able to make a request to a public authority for information. An applicant is entitled to be informed in writing as to whether the information is held and have the information communicated to them. If any of the information is to be refused, the organisation must provide you with a Refusal notice which clearly states the reasons why it is withholding the information you have requested and making clear the appeals process.

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Your request must:

• be made in writing (this can be electronically e.g., fax, email);
• state the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence; and
• describe the information requested.

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Not always. The Act recognises that there will be valid reasons why some kinds of information may be withheld, such as if its release would prejudice national security or commercial interests.

Public authorities are not obliged to deal with vexatious or repeated requests. In addition the Act does not provide the right of access to personal information about yourself. This information can be requested under the Data Protection Act 1998.

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There is no ‘flat rate’ fee to receive information and in many cases the information will be provided to you free of charge.

An authority can refuse a request if it estimates that it will cost them in excess of the appropriate cost limit to fulfil your request. The limit is £600 for central government and Parliament and £450 for other public authorities.

Where the limit is not exceeded, the only charges that can be passed to you are those associated with providing the information, for example photocopying and postage. These are collectively known as disbursements.

An authority may be willing to provide the information even where the cost exceeds the limit if you are willing to pay the full costs in dealing with the request. They can also decide to provide the information free of charge, despite the application of the appropriate limit if they wish.

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If you need to pay a fee for ‘disbursements’, such as photocopying and postage, or because the costs exceed the appropriate limit, you should be issued a Fees Notice within 20 working days of receipt of the request. When you are issued the Fees Notice, the 20 working day limit for responding stops, and then will start again when the public authority receive payment. If they do not receive the fee within three months they are not obliged to comply with the request.

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You must be informed in writing whether the public authority holds the information requested and if so, have the information communicated to you, promptly, but not later than 20 working days after they receive the request. In some circumstances a request may be refused. If this is the case, generally a Refusal Notice should have been issued to you. This should state the exemption providing the basis for refusal within the Freedom of Information Act and why it applies to the information you requested. This notice must also be communicated to you within the 20 working day time period.

A limited number of factors could extend this period, full details can be found in our guidance section.

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Where an authority have previously complied with a request for information which was made by any person, they are not obliged to comply with a subsequent identical or substantially similar request from that person unless a reasonable interval has elapsed between compliance with the previous request and the making of the current request.

Although there is no definition in the Freedom of Information Act of a ‘reasonable interval’, we have published guidance that will help you determine whether a request may be ‘repeated’ and provides guidance for public authorities on how to deal with them.

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The Freedom of Information Act gives applicants the right to request information held by public authorities. It does not provide a right of access to personal information about you. If someone is requesting their personal data this should be handled as a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act. More can be found about this in our guidance. Some data about others may be available, however it must not contravene any of the data protection principles of the Data Protection Act.

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