FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (FOI) AND THE MOD

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 came fully into force on 1 January 2005

The Act applies to all public authorities including the MOD. Schedule 1 to the Act gives more details but the term 'public authorities' is defined very widely and it has been estimated that over 100,000 bodies are involved. Within MOD, only the Special Forces and any unit providing assistance to the Government Communications Headquarters are outside the scope of the Act.

The Act requires each public authority to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme. The purpose of Publication Schemes is to specify the classes of information that the authority publishes or intends to publish; the form in which this is or will be done; and whether there is any charge for the information. Each scheme must be approved by the Information commissioner.

The MOD Publication Scheme relates to the information published across the whole of MOD, its agencies and military components. To search the MOD Publication Scheme please visit http://www.foi.mod.uk

From 1 January 2005 the Act also gives members of the public a "right of access" to information held by publication authorities. A parallel right to environmental information is contained in the Environmental Information Regulations. If you cannot find the information which you want in the Publication Scheme you may like to make an FOI request using our form. For more information go to http://www.foi.mod.uk/otherinfo.asp

Last Updated: 24 Aug 05