Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Law was passed on 19th October 2007 and comes into effect in January 2009. It gives the public a right of access to all types of records held by public authorities, but also sets out some exemptions from that right.

Publication Schemes

Each public authority covered by the Freedom of Information Law has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a publication scheme in accordance with s. 5 of the FOI Law. The main purpose of a publication scheme is to make information readily available without the need for specific written requests. Schemes are intended to encourage organisations to publish proactively, and develop a greater culture of openness.

The Law states that Information to be published by public authorities includes:-

• the functions of the authority, what work it does and how it sets about its tasks.
• the departments and agencies of the authority.
• the subjects handled by each department or authority, with the locations of the departments and agencies and the opening hours of all offices.
• the title and business address of the Principal Officer and other key officers within the authority.
• Classes of records held.
• Manuals, interpretations, rules, guidelines, practices or precedents.

Please check our document library and disclosure log to see if the information you would like is not already available.

Last Updated: 2010-08-17