Chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | annex A
3.1 None of that, however, is to say that good practice might not recommend compliance with a request for information in circumstances of individual disadvantage even though section 21 might arguably apply. Section 21, read together with the duty to give reasons for refusal of a request under section 17 and the duty to provide advice and assistance under section 16, can be regarded in the first place as a designed to integrate the FOI Act rights within the wider context of accessible information, and can be used as a means of redirecting applicants to existing sources of the information they seek, and to raise awareness of other legal rights of access. This redirectional character of section 21 means that its application is essentially a matter of ensuring that applicants seek information in the appropriate places. It leaves open entirely the question of the possibility of disclosure of the information to which it applies outside the boundaries of the FOI Act.