Appendix V: The Freedom of Information Acts
Purposes
The Freedom of Information Act 1997 (as amended by the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act 2003) has two main purposes:
- It imposes certain obligations on public bodies to make information available about their activities and decision-making procedures.
- It gives individuals the right to access information held by public bodies. In particular, it gives you the right to access information which the public body may hold about you and to have that information corrected if it is incomplete, incorrect or misleading. It also gives you the right to be given reasons for decisions made by public bodies which specifically affect you.
The general principle underlying the Acts is that everyone has a right of access to any record held by a public body. Public bodies have a duty to give reasonable assistance to you if you wish to exercise this right of access. If you have a disability, the public body must facilitate you in exercising your rights under the Acts.
Limits on the right of access
The right of access is circumscribed by the right to privacy and the protection of the public interest in certain cases.
What records can be accessed?
The Acts cover all kinds of records held by public bodies - paper records, electronic records etc.
How is access arranged?
In order to get access to records under the FOI Acts, you must apply in writing to the head of the public body concerned. For the purposes of this legislation the head of a public body is usually the chief executive officer or director. The head may delegate his/her functions under the Acts to another official and, in practice, this is very often done.
You must specify that you are making the request under the FOI legislation and you must give enough details of the information required to enable the public body to identify exactly what records you want. You must specify the manner of the access required i.e. on paper, electronic record etc.
The head of the public body (or the designated person) must acknowledge receipt of your request within two weeks and must also give you information about the processing of the request including information on appeals. If your application is made to the wrong public body it is up that body to send the request to the correct one - in other words, you cannot be sent around various offices unnecessarily.
Similarly, if you look for information or access without using the FOI procedure and the only way you are entitled to get such information/access is under that procedure, the public body has a duty to tell you about the FOI procedure and to offer to help with the request.
In effect, public bodies must facilitate your request and not try to circumvent it.
The head of the public body must decide on the request within four weeks of receiving it (This may be extended if access to a large number of records is requested). If the request is granted, you must be told where and when the record can be accessed and, in general, the name of the person dealing with your request. You may be able to get a copy of the documents concerned or a computer disk or an opportunity to read the document - the precise format depends partly on what you want and partly on what is the most efficient way.
If the request is refused in whole or in part, then you must be told the reasons why and also informed of the review and appeal procedure available.
There are a number of administrative reasons why access may be refused e.g. the record cannot be found after reasonable steps have been taken or the record is going to be publicly available within the next 12 weeks. There are also a number of reasons set out in legislation as to why access may be refused e.g. for security or related reasons.
Internal review of decision
If you are unhappy with the decision you may ask for it to be internally reviewed - in general you must do this within four weeks of receiving the initial decision. The review must be carried out by a higher-ranking official than the one who made the initial decision and must be done within three weeks of your request for the review. The initial decision may be upheld, changed somewhat or overturned.
Public bodies must also publish the names and designations of the staff members responsible for carrying out the arrangements unless the head of the body reasonably believes that publication of that information could threaten the physical safety or wellbeing of the staff concerned.
Amendment of personal information
Personal information means information which would normally be known only to you, your family and friends or information held by a public body about you on the understanding that it would be treated as confidential. It includes, among other things, information about educational or medical history, information about finances, employment, religion, age, sexual orientation, marital status, identification numbers, entitlements to social welfare, tax records, property and views and opinions.
If such personal information is incomplete, incorrect or misleading you may ask for it to be amended or deleted as appropriate. Again, application is made to the head of the public body concerned giving details of what is wrong with the record. A decision on the application must be made within four weeks. If the application is granted then the information is dealt with as required and the public body concerned must try to ensure that other bodies which had access to the record are informed of the change. If the application is refused, you must be told of the right to review and appeal. The record concerned must have the application attached to it so that, even if you do not succeed in having it corrected, then your disagreement with it is on the record.
Acts of public bodies affecting an individual
If you are affected by an act of a public body and you have a material interest in the act, you may require the public body to inform you of the reasons for the act and of any findings on any material issues of fact made for the purposes of the act. You are considered to have a material interest in an act if the consequences or effect of the act may be to confer on or withhold a benefit without also conferring or withholding that benefit from people in general or from a large group of people.
Exempt records
The general principle of the FOI Acts is that all records except those specifically exempted are accessible. The Acts specify those records which may be exempt. Among the records to which you may be refused access are:
Deliberations of public bodies: access to records relating to the discussions and decision-making procedures of a public body must be refused in certain cases and may be refused in others. The exemption does not cover factual information, certain technical reports or reports on the performance or effectiveness of the body, internal rules and guidelines and reasons for decisions.
Records may also be refused where their disclosure could prejudice the effectiveness of certain operations of public bodies e.g. audit, control or investigative functions, industrial relations negotiations. However, the information may be made available where, on balance, the public interest would be better served by granting rather than refusing the information.
Confidential and other sensitive information: access may be refused to records which contain information which has been given to a public body in confidence. Personal information may not be accessed by third parties.
The Information Commissioner
The basic role of the Information Commissioner is to provide the appeal procedure if you are not satisfied that your rights under FOI have been granted. The Commissioner may review almost all decisions under the FOI legislation. In an appeal against a decision of a public body, the onus is on the public body to justify its initial decision. The Commissioner may confirm, vary or annul the decision. The time limits for applying to the Commissioner vary slightly but, for the more important decisions, the time limit is six months.
The Commissioner also has a general role of overseeing the legislation and may carry out investigations into the practices and procedures adopted by public bodies for the purposes of complying with the legislation.
Fees
Fees must be charged in certain cases. Fees are not charged for access to personal information. The current (2005) scale of fees is described in Section 1.7.
Obligations on public bodies
Public bodies must facilitate you in getting access to records. They must also provide comprehensive information about themselves, their activities and their decision-making procedures. Under the Acts, public bodies are obliged to publish what are known as Section 15 and Section 16 Reference Books or Manuals. These are the relevant sections of the Act and they specify precisely what the Reference Book must include.
