The free and open exchange of information held by public bodies is vital in a democratic society. Dissemination makes it possible for citizens to participate in public debate, hold Government and other public bodies to account, and understand how decisions are made. We have a great deal of experience in using information law to acquire information for clients.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 formally came into effect in 2005. It was a landmark enactment which introduced a regime to govern the disclosure of information held by public authorities. It created an automatic right to the disclosure of all such information on request. Since then, a body of law has developed interpreting the statute’s provisions and supervising the use of the various qualifications and exemptions which public authorities can use to avoid having to make disclosure.

There is also a closely related body of law relating to ‘environmental information’ which came into force at a similar time. Disclosure of environmental information is controlled by the UN Aarhus Convention which requires signatories to put strict systems in place to make such information available on request. Accordingly, the UK, which is party to the convention, enacted more stringent disclosure obligations in respect of environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations.

Requesting Information

When somebody makes a request, the public body will either comply in full, comply in part, or refuse. If the ‘requester’ is unhappy with the body’s response, they can complain first of all to the public body again and then, if the refusal is maintained, to the Information Commissioner’s Office (the ICO). The complaint will be reviewed by the ICO who will decide whether or not the body has complied with its information disclosure obligations. The ICO can either order the body to comply with its obligations or dismiss the requester’s complaint. If the requester remains unsatisfied, they can bring an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against the ICO. There are further avenues of appeal after that.

We have experience both in relation to making information requests to public bodies and bringing appeals against refusal in the tribunal system.