Introduction to the Act

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("The Act") extends the public's rights of access to information held by public authorities, which for the purposes of the Act includes higher education institutions, and imposes a number of obligations on them. When it is fully in force members of the public will have a statutory right (with some minor limitations) to request any information held by Imperial, regardless of when it was created, by whom, or the form in which it is now recorded.

The Act required the College to have a "publication scheme" in place by the end of February 2004, with a revision of the scheme in January 2009. The Scheme is a list of the classes of information the College has committed itself to publishing. Its purpose is to ensure that the College, as a public authority, makes as much information as possible publicly available. The College has made available (either on its website or in some other form) all the information included in its approved publication scheme.

The Act came fully into force across the public sector on 1 January 2005 and from that date the public, including other corporate bodies, have the right to make a request for any other information not already published under the Publication Scheme.

The Act also requires the Lord Chancellor to issue two Codes of Practice "On the Discharge of Public Authorities' Functions" and "On the Management of Records". The first concerns the practices that public authorities should follow when dealing with requests for information, and the second gives guidance on good practice in records management. Institutions will be expected to act in accordance with both Codes of Practice.