About Defra

Access to information: introduction to Freedom of Information Act 2000

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 received Royal Assent on 30 November 2000.

Main features of the Act

• The Act provides a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities. This right is subject to certain exemptions most of which require case by case consideration of the balance public interest.

• All public Authorities are required to adopt and maintain a publication scheme, which specifies the classes of information the authority publishes (or intends to publish), the manner in which it is published and whether the information is available free of charge or on payment of a fee. Each scheme must be approved by the Information Commissioner.

• The Act applies to a wide range of public bodies, including agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies as listed in the schedules to the Act.

• The Information Commissioner is responsible for overseeing the operation of the Act as well as approving Publication Schemes and promoting compliance with the Act. The Commissioner has powers of enforcement.

Implementation

The Act came fully into force on 1 January 2005.

Legislation

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Code

Lord Chancellor's Code of Practice on the discharge of public authorities' functions - Section 45 of the Act

Guidance

Detailed guidance on applying exemptions has been produced

Stakeholder leaflet

A leaflet to alert people who provide information to Defra about the new legislation on access to information is available here (663 KB)

Background

The Freedom of Information Act supersedes the non statutory Code of Practice on Access to Government Information 1997.

For further information on the FOI Act please go to the links below:

• www.foi.gov.uk
• www.dca.gov.uk

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