Freedom of Information Act
December 2007
Introduction
On the 1 January 2005 the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force. The Act requires that all public bodies make available, with certain exceptions, information that is produced and held by them to members of the public if requested. The Act covers public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Public bodies in Scotland are covered by a separate Act, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. This Act also came into force in January 2005.
Within the health sector, the Act not only covers the Department of Health and NHS Trusts but also independent medical practitioners, who under the Act are each considered as being a public body.
Requirements
The Act requires that each public body produce and maintain a publication scheme. This is a document that details the types of documents produced and held by the public body, including whether or not they are already accessible to the public.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is charged with the responsibility of implementing the Act and enforcing it. The ICO estimates that there are over 100,000 independent medical practitioners who will need to adopt a publication scheme. In order to make the process of adopting a publication scheme as simple as possible for the health professionals concerned the ICO has produced a set of model publication schemes which independent medical practitioners can agree to adopt. These can be accessed on the ICO website.
GPC guidance
Many of the independent medical practitioners who are required to adopt a publication scheme are General Practitioners. Due to this fact the General Practitioners Committee (GPC) of the BMA has produced guidance on the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for GPs, last updated in September 2005. You will need to be logged in to the BMA website to access this page.
The Scottish General Practitioners Committee (SGPC) have also produced guidance on the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 for GPs, last updated in August 2005. You will need to be logged in to the BMA website to access this page.
Web resources
For general information about the Freedom of Information Act 2000 please visit the UK Government’s Official website for the Act.
For general information about the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 please visit the Scottish Executive’s Official website for the Act.
For information regarding the implementation of the Act by NHS bodies, including independent medical practitioners, please go to http://www.foi.nhs.uk/
For more information about the Information Commissioner’s Office please visit their website at: http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
The full text of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is available online.
The full text of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 is available online.