Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 received Royal Assent on 30 November 2000 and applies to all public authorities. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on those public authorities. The definition of a 'public authority' includes all universities and the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. In respect of the University of Cambridge the 'public authority' is the University Council.

Under the Act public authorities will have two main responsibilities:

• production of a guide to the information they hold which is publicly available - a 'publication scheme'; and
• dealing with individual requests for information.

The Act provides a general right of access by an individual to the information held by a public authority under section 1 of the Act. Any person wishing to exercise this right, which came into force in January 2005, will have to do so in writing to the public authority. The public authority must state whether it holds that information and, subject to some exemptions, must supply the information.

The Act also provides an alternative mechanism of gaining access to information. Each public authority is required to develop and maintain a publication scheme. Such a scheme details the categories of information to be made available on a routine basis thus providing a simpler and more immediate means of obtaining information whilst reducing the need for public authorities to respond to formal requests. The intention is to encourage organisations to be more open and to publish information pro-actively.