Information management
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (usually referred to as FoIA or “the Act”) is designed to foster openness and transparency in public authorities.
The Act has two main parts: firstly there is the Publication Scheme whereby a public authority is required to pro-actively publish certain information. The information published under these schemes is the sort of information that is regularly requested by members of the public and can also include a “Disclosure Log” of responses to previous FoIA requests. This is designed to reduce the amount of repeated requests for similar information.
The second part of the Act is the individual rights of access which came into force on the 1st January 2005. This part of the Act allows anybody, anywhere, at any time to request any information that a public authority holds and it is completely retrospective. The Act covers all information, regardless of how and when it was recorded and can include pocket notebooks, rough notes and audio & video tapes and subject to any applicable exemptions the information must be provided to the applicant within 20 working days.
Under the Act an individual making a request for information has two basic rights:- To be told if the requested information is held; and if so, to have that information communicated to them. As stated earlier the disclosure of information under the Act is subject to several exemptions. These exemptions cover things such as National Security, investigations, law enforcement and so on. One of the most important exemptions is for personal information covered by the Data Protection Act 1998. Individuals already have the right of access to information held by Staffordshire Police about them by using the Subject Access provisions provided by section 7 of that act (see the Data Protection section of this website for more information).
The Freedom of Information Act in England and Wales is regulated and enforced by the Information Commissioner who also carries out similar functions for the Data Protection Act.
Click on the links in the boxes on the right for more information about Freedom of Information (including publication schemes), the Data Protection Act and the website of the Information Commissioner. You will also find a copy of the current version of the ACPO Freedom of Information Manual of Guidance (Opens in new window) that you can download.