“For the democracy to work, citizens must have information to help them plan for the future and to choose which politicians to vote for. The Freedom of Information (2000) Act, which came into effect in 2005, created the UK’s first general right to access to information held by government departments and other public authorities in the United Kingdom.” (Ref.1)
The FOI (2000) Act gives public and journalists TWO key powers, it makes it mandatory on a public authority to disclose whether or not it has the information requested and the public authority must communicate that information. (Ref.2)
There are around 130 000 different organisations and bodies covered by the Act, it is estimated that there are around 1000 000 requests a year (cast £34m) of which journalism is thought to account for only 12% of it, Hard to believe, is it not?
Freedom of Information - Masterclass
FOI was a New Labour policy objective, Journalists also feel that this is the high water mark of FOI requests as you can always request something that has been published or uploaded. "Unnecessary secrecy in government leads to arrogance in government and defective policy decisions"- Tony Blair 1995 (Ref.2) The Freedom of Information Act covers the basic principle that any person making request for information to a public authority is entitled to have that information given to.
Exceptions: FOI gives you legal right of access to any piece of information held by most public authorities, unless there’s a valid reason. Also “if a request costs too much, then the department does not have to supply the information, even if you are willing to pay. Previously the cost of providing an answer was a common reason why ministers would not respond to PQs.” (Ref.2)
Politicians tend to claim the FOI Act has a “chilling effect" on the government as they tend to step back and don’t feel free just to say or discuss issues openly in any way they would like as they are afraid that it would be put into a document and requested by someone to find out.
Tony Blair interview by Andrew Marr Best Bits on youtube
Matthew Davies – King of FOI requests
Matt Davis made a very profitable career just out of selling FOI stories to the national papers, he said the act was not perfect - too many exemptions, too many delays and the new ruling on 'prohibitive cost' can give bureaucrats an effective veto but as we know FOI can prove a good tool for journalists. He says that all journos had to become FOI evangelists. (Ref.2) One of his succesfull stories obtained thanks to request of FOI was when he got a set of national front pages with THE WORST HOSPITALS IN BRITAIN – by doing FOI on an obscure body called the NHS litigation authority. He asked for a breakdown of spending by hospital and also for the insurance the hospitals needed. He identified the worst hospitals on the basis of how much the insurance companies charged to cover them for negligence. (Ref.2)
Other of his researches was on BORAT - two years ago when a massive start - he sent off an FOI to the Foreign Office asking for ALL documents from UK ambassador to Kazakstan. Revealed that the Kazak government had threatened action against Britain - maybe even military attack on Britain - because of BORAT - was a big story. (Ref.2)
As our tutor Chris Horrie outlines in his notes “good authorities to go for are the quangos - eg NHS litigation authority (how much paid in compensation this year for medical cock-ups) - his eyes actually lit up with an evil glint at the thought of the Olympic Delivery Authority. (Ref.2)
What are the public authorities?
“In total, around 100,000 major and minor bodies in the public sector are covered by the Act.”(Ref.1) Why can they say NO - If it costs more than £600 (or £450 for smaller authorities) or if the information is exempt (not included), but you do not have to accept this decision.
Organisations that are believed to be covered by it account for more than 1,000 public bodies, Central and local government, Health, Education, other public bodies throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland (all local councils; Parish & Town councils; Hospitals; Health trusts; GPs; Dentists; Pharmacists; Government departments; Schools, colleges, universities). (Ref.2)
“Public authorities are requested by ection 16 of the Act to give someone proposing to make a request, or someone who has already made one, ‘advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect the authority to do so’.” (Ref.1)
The act also allows the same authorities to refuse to supply the requested information “given various grounds” (Ref.1) which we call exemptions.
EXEMPTIONS are given to organisations that are not required to respond to FOI requests like Security & Intelligence services; Special forces – SAS / SBS; NCIS; GCHQ ; ALL OF WHO have NO DUTY to CONFIRM or DENY that ANY INFO EXISTS. (Ref.2)
“Information must be released UNLESS it is judged that the public interest in NOT disclosing it is greater than the public interest in releasing it”. (Ref.2) Public authorities must disclose if info that will allow public better understanding of decisions affecting individual lives and assists challenges to such decisions. (Ref.1)
GOVERNMENT VETO POWERS are available only to Cabinet ministers which mean that the notices issued by the Commissioner can be vetoed by them. Anyone else such power derogated to can block Information Commissioner Disclosure on Public Interest grounds BUT CANNOT be used against an order NOT covered by EXEMPTION. (Ref.2)
How do you make an FOI request?
Under the 2000 FOIA more than 100,000 public authorities were not only required to give a legal right to the public, they must also help process inquiries within certain time limits. “The whole process is overseen by a national Information Commissioner to whom appeals can be made. Public bodies which do not help the public exercise their rights under the act could, in theory, lose their right to keep records at all which, in practice. (Ref.2)
An FOI request should be in writing (emails, letters); there should be enclosed enough info for authority to reply on and 3) we can even specify how the reply should be formatted to us e.g. by post, e-mail, fax etc You can use the website and choose the public authorities that you would like your request to be directed at and you send the request).
The operational part of the act is any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it hold information of the description specified in the request, and if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him. (Ref.2) It is important to frame the requests in bureaucratic language, and keep it vague. If you are specific and categorical (journo language) then they can wriggle. It is also important to think which particular authority will have what sort of information. (Ref.2)
Also within F.O.I – PROTOCOLS there is no need to disclose WHY info sought; response must be within 20 working days; there is no distinction between media requests and others; there are statutory duty to assist inquiries; info refusal only citing clause of Act and must outline complaints procedure. (Ref.2) But a large part of the act is taken up with a long list of exemptions – cases or circumstances where a public body does not have to provide information.
There are two kinds of exemption. There is an absolute exemption that covers court records, trade secrets, security matters. ABSOLUTE exemption can be faced with refusal if no PUBLIC INTEREST TEST is applied. And a qualified exemption (subject to “Public interest” test 23 such criteria spelt out in Act which covers ministerial communications or commercial confidentiality (government policy formulation; info “prejudicial” to effective conduct of public affairs; law enforcemen; the economy; legal professional privilege). (Ref.2)
The main danger is asking for anything that might identify anyone in particular - because of section 8 HRA and Data Protection Act, “they can turn you down if the request will identify anyone, even by accident. Avoid that in the way you from the question. (Ref.2)
“The first potential hurdle is the definition of “information” itself. The Act specifies that only information, or records of decisions, which have been written down or electronically recorded, counts as information available to the public under the meaning of the Act. The danger is that once public officials realise that decisions they record will be open to public scrutiny, they will be more circumspect in creating accessible records in the first place. (...) Records of decisions made in cabinet or other official bodies did not exist, because t they had been made in advance and in private. (...) (The Lord Chancellor office issued a Code of Practice on Management of Records which establishes standards in this area.(Ref.2)
References:
Ref.1) McNae’s essential law for journalists (Twentieth Edition) Banks, D. Hanna, M. (2009)
Ref.2) Notes from the Media Law section on Winchester Journalism site for third year ba students (updates, year 3, BA Journalism 2010) week 8 http://journalism.winchester.ac.uk/?page=102
Ref.3) Media Law Lecture ba Journalism, year 3, week 8
Ref.4) Freedom of Information - Masterclass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPp_HEFJoHE&feature=player_embedded
Ref.5) Tony Blair interview by Andrew Marr Best Bits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6PQTUU0eh4&feature=related
