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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 took effect from January 1st 2005. We intend to operate as openly and transparently as possible in the spirit of the Act.
What is the Freedom of Information Act?
The Freedom of Information Act is a law which gives a general right of access for the public to recorded information held by public authorities, and includes information held by the Ombudsman.
Responsibility for overseeing the operation of the Act rests with the Information Commissioner who is independent of the government reporting directly to Parliament.
For detailed information on the Freedom of Information Act, its scope and your rights to information, visit the Information Commissioner's website.
What is the Ombudsman's general policy on providing information?
We welcome the rights of access to information set out in the Act. However, the nature of our work entails the collection of a great deal of sensitive and confidential information in the course of our investigations. The release of this information may cause real harm to the individuals involved or it may prejudice the final outcome.
This means we must balance our wish to operate transparently with our duty to look after the privacy of personal and other confidential information. Equally we may have to consider whether release of information is in the public interest. This delicate balance is recognised in the Freedom of Information Act itself which, for example, clearly makes the information gathered for an investigation generally unavailable to anyone other than Ombudsman and her staff.
Our approach is set out in our policy statement on access to information.
How do I get information?
Our publication scheme explains what information we make available generally to the public, and aims wherever possible to provide an easy method of accessing it.
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