Coming into force on the 1st January 2005, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
will introduce new rights to access information held by 100,000 public bodies in
England and Wales.
In essence, the Act grants citizens two rights: first, to have the right to be told if certain information exists; and second, a right to request access to that information within 20 working days unless requested information is covered by any exemptions. Under the provisions of the Act, this information can be in almost any form – email, electronic and hard copy files, plans, photographs, etc. The Act covers information that may have been archived and, unlike acts in some other countries, is fully retrospective – that is, information from before the Act is required to be disclosed.
LINKS
- NHS Freedom of Information site http://www.foi.nhs.uk
- Health Ombudsman http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/
- Excellent link page at www.foiconnect.com/public/cat.php/7.htm