Data Protection vs. Freedom of Information

CHAPTER 5: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT PROCEDURE AND TIME LIMITS

A request under the Freedom of Information Act must:

•  be made in writing (for which e-mail counts)⁶;

•  state the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence;

•  describe the information requested.

The request does not have to mention the Freedom of Information Act, so any written request for information to a public authority must be considered as a potential, if not actual, valid request.

There has been some discussion on whether the applicant must give their real name. It can be argued that the main reason for requiring a name and address must be to ensure that the response is correctly delivered; therefore, on balance, there is unlikely to be any need to verify ...