Any request for recorded information is a request to which Freedom of Information Act procedures potentially apply.
Freedom of Information Act requests may be received by anyone in a public authority, including press offices and private offices and requests do not have to be marked "Freedom of Information Act". It is recommended that public authorities consider putting request forms on their web-sites and encourage people to use them. This will enable a central point within the authority to receive the request and ensure that it is passed on to the unit which is best placed to respond.
Requests for information may be in any form and, as indicated above, need not have to mention the Freedom of Information Act. The only restrictions are that they:
Each of these terms is explained in more detail below.
Anyone can make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act. The Act makes no distinction between requests from people who are citizens of, or who are currently in the UK, Europe or any country in the world. All requests must be treated the same, irrespective of the country of origin.
Requests from overseas may be in a foreign language. If you receive a request in a foreign language and your authority regularly makes printed material available in this language, it is best practice to use the translation service to translate the request into English and deal with the request. If your authority does not generally provide written material in the language used in the request, you should reply to the request, asking that they re-frame their request in English.
The Welsh Language Act 1993 confirms in law that Welsh and English are equal in Wales. It places an obligation on the public sector to treat the Welsh and English languages equally in the provision of services to the public in Wales. Any requests received in the Welsh language should therefore be translated into English if necessary and processed as normal. Public authorities should also consider whether it is appropriate to translate the response back into Welsh in the interests of good customer service. The translation of text to, and from, Welsh is not chargeable under the costs regime since it fulfils a pre-existing statutory obligation.
You are under a duty to provide advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect your public authority to do so, to people who have made or who propose to make requests for information.
The Section 45 Code of Practice provides detailed guidance on the provision of advice and assistance to applicants and gives examples of where the duty may arise and how public authorities might comply with it. The Code of Practice should be consulted as and when necessary. The Information Commissioner's Office has produced an awareness guide on advice and assistance which can be found on his website.
The provision of advice and assistance does not normally affect the 20 working days deadline, which is dealt with in the Time and Fees chapter of this guidance. However, if you are providing advice and assistance because you need further information in order to identify the information requested, you are not obliged to comply with the request until you receive this.
If you have to request more information from applicants as to the precise nature of the information they are requesting, then you should consider the most appropriate way of obtaining it. It may be quicker to e-mail or, as a matter of good customer service, telephone the applicant.
It is important that you keep a detailed record of any letters, e-mails and telephone conversations you may have with applicants in the course of providing advice and assistance. This should form part of any records management system your department uses when dealing with Freedom of Information requests.