FOI and Voluntary Organisations

Make the most of your right to know!

Below we provide a short guide to freedom of information (FOI) rights for voluntary organisations and campaign groups - how to use the right and how to appeal, along with some useful examples of where FOI has been successfully used in the past.

For more detailed information on using your FOI rights, visit www.itspublicknowledge.info/yourrights.

The following guide to FOI for voluntary organisations can also be downloaded in PDF format here:

FOI and Voluntary Organisations - Your Questions Answered (145kb)

What is freedom of information?
How might FOI be used by my organisation?
Who is covered?
What kind of information can be requested?
How do I make an FOI request?
Do I have to say why I want the information?
What can be withheld?
What will it cost?
Can I appeal if information is withheld?
Hints and tips when making a request
Are voluntary or charitable organisations covered by FOISA?
Is FOISA likely to be extended in future?

What is freedom of information?
Freedom of information (FOI) provides individuals and organisations with a right of access to the information held by public authorities. Under FOI, there is a presumption in favour of the requester and, in most cases, you are entitled to receive the information you request. Public authorities can only withhold information where the law expressly allows them to.

How might FOI be used by my organisation?
FOISA gives you a right to request any information which might be held by a public authority. You might ask to see information that could assist and support individual clients, or to pursue wider issues relating to your organisation or its campaigns. Information uncovered using FOI can also be used to generate media coverage of your organisation and its work.

Some examples of past use of FOI by voluntary organisations and campaign groups in the UK are detailed below. (Please note that the Commissioner cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites):

Inclusion Scotland, a disability charity, used FOI to gather data from local authorities on the provision of accessible and affordable housing for those with disabilities, as part of a campaign to improve services. Read Inclusion Scotland's FOI Factsheet here.
The Rarer Cancers Forum used FOI to discover that twice as many patients in Scotland have to appeal to the NHS's 'exceptional cases committee' for treatment than in England. The Forum's report, 'Exceptional Scotland' is available here, while coverage of the report from the Scotsman can be viewed here. The Forum has also used the UK FOI Act to find out how the treatments offered to cancer patients vary between regions. Read news coverage from The Guardian here.
Streetwork UK, a charity providing support for the homeless, used FOI to request details of a successful tender bid by a provider of similar services. Read the Scottish Information Commissioner's news release here.
The NSPCC used the UK FOI Act to access previously unpublished information on the number of sex offences involving children in England and Wales. Read news coverage from The Telegraph here.
A local community group accessed details of neighbourhood crime statistics as part of a campaign to have CCTV installed in their area. Read news coverage from the Greenock Telegraph here.
TreeHouse - a national autism charity - used FOI to gather information on the differing support available from local authorities for families with autistic children in the UK. Read the TreeHouse news release here, and subsequent coverage from the Telegraph here.
Road Sense, a group campaigning against the Aberdeen city bypass, used FOI to access details of the discussions which informed the proposed route. Read the Road Sense news release here.
The Scottish Rural Schools Network has regularly used FOI when campaigning against rural school closures. Read news coverage of the Network's successful fight against the closure of a local school from the Lochaber News here.
Friends of the Earth used the UK FOI laws to access environmental information from waste companies. Read Friends of the Earth's news release here.
Community campaigners used FOI to gather information as part of a campaign against the closure of a local casualty department. Read news coverage from the Kirkintilloch Herald here.

If you have used FOI successfully in your work then we'd love to hear about it. Alternatively, if you've experienced any problems in using your FOI rights and would like advice, or would simply like some support in making a first request, then please get in touch. You can contact us by phoning 01334 464610, or by emailing enquiries@itspublicknowledge.info.

Who is covered?
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), applies to over 10,000 public authorities in Scotland. This includes the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, local authorities, the police, educational institutions and the NHS. The Act also applies to bodies such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Scottish Social Services Council, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

Separate legislation, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, covers public authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as non-devolved public authorities operating in Scotland (such as the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Defence).

What kind of information can be requested?
FOISA applies to all recorded information held by an authority. This includes all information held in paper files, electronic documents or databases, and will cover minutes of meetings, copies of emails, reports, discussion papers and spreadsheets. The FOISA right even covers photographs, CD-Roms and audio or video recordings.

How do I make an FOI request?
Requests must be made in writing (letter, fax or email) or another recordable format. You must also include your name, and an address for correspondence. The authority is required to respond to your request within 20 working days, either by providing the information or setting out why, according to FOISA they are entitled to withhold it. It is, however, much easier for an authority to release information than withhold it.

More details on the FOI request process are available at www.itspublicknowledge.info/yourrights.

Do I have to say why I want the information?
No. When making requests, you are not obliged to tell the authority who you represent or why you want the information, although you can, of course, choose to provide this information if you wish.

What can be withheld?
FOISA allows authorities to withhold information in certain circumstances, e.g. where its release would breach the right to privacy provided by data protection legislation, or where it would damage national security or seriously harm an organisation's commercial interests. Even where an exemption can be applied, however, an authority is, in most cases, obliged to consider the public interest before deciding that it should be withheld. This 'public interest test' sets out that information can only be withheld where the public interest favouring non-disclosure outweighs the public interest in release.

Information requests can also be refused if it costs the authority over ?600 to provide the information, if the request is considered to be 'vexatious' (although this is rarely used), or, of course, where the authority does not hold the information.

What will it cost?
For most requests, the information will be provided free of charge. FOISA sets out that information which it costs an authority ?100 or less to provide should be free of charge. For requests which cost an authority between ?100 and ?600 to provide, the authority can charge 10% of that cost (i.e. a maximum charge of ?50), although many authorities choose to waive this charge.

Authorities are legitimately entitled to refuse requests for information where it would cost them over ?600 to provide it, although they should also give you advice, where possible, on what can be provided within the ?600 cost limit.

(If you are making a request to a public authority based in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, the charging regime will be slightly different. For further information, refer to the (UK) Information Commissioner's website at www.ico.gov.uk.)

Can I appeal if information is withheld?
Yes. You can appeal where information is withheld, or where you are otherwise unhappy with an authority's handling of your request (e.g. if it fails to respond within 20 working days). There are two stages of appeal.

The first stage is to appeal directly to the authority, asking them to review their response to your initial request. The authority will then have a further 20 working days to respond.

If you remain unhappy at the end of this period, you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. On receipt of an appeal the Commissioner will conduct a full investigation. If this investigation concludes that an authority has failed to act in accordance with FOISA, the Commissioner has the power to force the release of the information. Further information on the appeal process is available at www.itspublicknowledge.info/yourrights.

Hints and tips when making a request

The following hints and tips may be helpful when making a request:

Talk to the authority ? discussing your needs with the authority in advance can help you target your request to the particular information you seek. Authorities have a duty to advise and assist people who make FOI requests.

Focus on recorded information ? the FOI right applies to recorded information. It won't, therefore, apply to information which isn't recorded and held by the authority at the time you make your request, and authorities aren't required to create new information in order to respond. When framing your request, therefore, think about the types of information which might be held by the authority that could be provided in response. This might include, for example, minutes of meetings, copies of correspondence, final reports or data saved in spreadsheets.

Be specific when a request is framed too broadly it may mean that you receive information which is of no interest to you, while also placing an unnecessary burden on the public authority. With such requests, there is also a greater risk of a refusal on cost grounds. Try and be as specific as possible when making your request. It may help, for example, to provide the authority with a time period in which the information you want was likely to have been created, or to refer to specific parties you believe may have been involved in the creation of the information.

Be clear and concise try to keep your request as clear and simple as possible so that it can't be misunderstood. Avoid commenting on other issues if the main reason you are writing is to ask for information.

Keep copies keep copies of all your correspondence until you have got the information you want. You will need them should you choose to bring an appeal to the Commissioner.

Further tips when making FOI requests are available from www.itspublicknowledge.info/yourrights.

Are voluntary or charitable organisations covered by FOISA?
For most of these organisations, the answer will be no. Requests received by most charity and voluntary organisations will not qualify as FOI requests, and there will be no legal duty to respond in terms of FOISA. This does not, of course, mean that voluntary organisations and charities should not respond to the requests they receive, just that there is no legal obligation to do so, and no right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

FOISA provides three routes through which organisations may be covered by the legislation. These are:

The body is listed in Schedule 1 of FOISA - Schedule 1 contains a list of public authorities that are covered by FOISA. While some organisations that have charitable status will be covered by Schedule 1 (e.g. educational institutions with charitable status) FOISA does not generally apply to charities or voluntary organisations.

The body has been designated under section 5 of FOISA - Section 5 of FOISA provides that the Scottish Ministers can designate organisations as 'public authorities' for the purposes of FOISA, where those organisations are, for example, providing public services or otherwise exercising functions of a public nature. To date, the Scottish Ministers have made no designations under section 5 of FOISA.

The body is a company which is wholly-owned by one or more public authority - A wholly-owned company will commonly be one whose membership is made up entirely of public authorities. Where membership is made up of a public authority and another body, such as a private sector organisation, the company will not be wholly-owned, and will not fall within the scope of FOISA. A charitable company which is wholly-owned by one or more public authority will, however, fall within the scope of FOISA.

Is FOISA likely to be extended in future?
The issue of whether the FOI legislation should be extended is currently under consideration by the Scottish Government. The focus of the debate is primarily on whether registered social landlords, local authority trusts (e.g. bodies set up by local authorities to run leisure facilities), and contractors who provide public services that are a function of a public authority (for example, contractors providing prison services), should be brought within the scope of FOISA.

For more information visit www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI.