Freedom of information in the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom is controlled by two Acts of Parliament, which both came into force on January 1, 2005.

• Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the "2000 Act")
• Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 ("the 2002 Act" or "the Scottish Act")

As a large number of public bodies in Scotland (for example, educational bodies) are controlled by the Scottish Parliament, the 2000 Act would not apply to them, and thus a second Act of the Scottish Parliament was required. It should, however, be noted that the scope of the two Acts is effectively identical - the types of public bodies covered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are also covered in Scotland - and the requirements are almost identical, though the Scottish Act has slightly stronger phrasing in favour of disclosing information.

The 2000 Act does not extend to public bodies in the overseas territories or crown dependencies. Some of these have contemplated implementing their own legislation, though none is currently in force.

Contents 1 History 2 Form 3 Effects 4 See also 5 References

[edit] History

In 1977, a draft Freedom of Information and Privacy Bill was circulated; this was shorter and simpler than the later Acts, and also included privacy legislation. Later versions were occasionally suggested by opposition parties, and it became a manifesto commitment for the Labour Party at the 1997 general election. This promised to introduce some form of freedom of information legislation in line with other western nations.

A schedule for compliance was arranged at the time of the 2000 Act, and then for the 2002 Act, with timescales arranged so that both would come into full force on the same date - January 1, 2005. This reduced confusion and ambiguities, but the delay in passing an Act in Scotland pushed back the final implementation by some time. As a result, a manifesto promise from the 1997 election was finally fulfilled just in time for the 2005 election.

On March 24 a debate raged over the future of FOI between those in power and the campaigners.[1]

[edit] Form

Both Acts contain lengthy schedules defining, implicitly or explicitly, the public bodies which are covered by the legislation.

[edit] Effects

[edit] See also

• Freedom of information legislation

[edit] References

• Stationery Office text of the Freedom of Information 2000 Act
• Stationery Office text of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) 2002 Act
• Freedom of Information and Privacy Bill. London: Parliamentary Stationery Office, 1977
• Information Commissioner's website