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| Freedom of Information
The Freedom
of Information Act 2000 received Royal Assent on 30 November 2000
and came into effect on the 1st January 2005. It gives a general
right of access to all types of recorded information held by public
authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number
of obligations on public authorities. A ‘public authority’
is defined in the Act, and includes but is not restricted to central
and local government, non-departmental public bodies, the police,
the health service and schools, colleges and universities. Any person
who makes a request to a public authority for information must be
informed whether the public authority holds that information and,
subject to exemptions, supplied with that information.
Individuals already have the right of access to information about themselves under the Data Protection Act 1998. As far as public authorities are concerned, the Freedom of Information Act extends this right to allow public access to all types of information held. Every public authority is required to adopt and maintain a publication scheme setting out the classes of information it holds, the manner in which it intends to publish the information, and whether a charge will be made for the information. The purpose of a scheme is to ensure a significant amount of information is available, without the need for a specific request. This is the Department’s publication scheme, drawn up under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The purpose of this publication scheme is to set out:
The publication scheme fulfils the requirements of the Information Commissioner as set out in his model publication scheme for FOI public authorities supported by the Commissioner’s definition document for Government departments. The information subject to this scheme is available on the TSol internet site. While the overwhelming majority of the information published by TSol is published free of charge, charges may apply in some circumstances. Please see our charging policy below. Information Published by the Bona Vacantia Division The Bona Vacantia Division is governed by the Treasury Solicitor Department's Information Publication Scheme. Details of the information published by the Bona Vacantia Division can be found at the following link, The Bona Vacantia's Publications and accessed via its dedicated website: www.bonavacantia.gov.uk Data Protection Act All requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) must be made in writing and must specify that the request is being made under that Act. Subject to certain prescribed conditions, and the limitations set out in the exemptions in Sections 27 to 39, individuals have rights of access to their own personal data, but not to personal data relating to other people.
Charging Policy The Treasury Solicitor’s Department does
not charge for the Freedom of Information Act publications scheme
information contained in this website. Some of the information may
also be available in printed form from:
The Freedom of Information Officer We reserve the right to charge for large paper documents, e.g. manuals or for multiple copies of smaller documents. We will inform you of the cost on request.
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