The Freedom of Information Act

Ed Probert lifts the lid on the FIA...

The disclosure provisions of The Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force on 1 January 2005. In a nutshell, this allows anyone to ask any Public Authority for any information that it holds, with the exception of personal information (which is covered by the Data Protection Act) and environmental information (which is covered by an alternative set of rules).

It may seem that this has little relevance for businesses that are not involved in the public sector and the provisions will only be of use to journalists looking for information to support stories.

However, the experience of other countries (especially Australia) is that journalists are not the biggest users of the provisions, but that businesses have found the Freedom of Information provisions to be a new weapon in their armoury. The Act is, for UK businesses both an opportunity and a threat.

If you are a business that is already trading with anyone in the public sector (or a business that carries out Public Sector activities such as waste collection) then your Agreements, Minutes of Meetings and correspondence will be open to the eyes of the public and, more importantly, your competitors. You might think that the confidentiality provisions included in your contract will assist but, unfortunately, the Act requires Local Authorities to examine every single piece of information and decide whether or not it needs to be kept confidential with a presumption that it does not. Accordingly, information that would have previously been considered confidential (such as prices) could be revealed to a competitor who makes a request for information.

Of course, if you have competitors who supply the public sector, then the 4 January would be a good date to start considering requests to the Public Authorities for details of contracts with your competitors. This could produce all sorts of interesting information relating to the terms, length of contract and also the state of the relationship between the parties.

Foot Anstey Sargent have been advising Public Authorities on their implementation of the Act and businesses on the benefits to be gained from making requests.

For further details, please contact: Edmund Probert, Marlene Naumann or Silas Brown on 01392-411221 or eap@foot-ansteys.co.uk.