The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 24 April 2002 and received Royal Assent on 28 May 2002. The UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was passed in 2000. Both the Scottish and UK acts came into force on 1 January 2005.
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act applies to all Scottish public authorities, which include the Scottish Government and its agencies, local authorities, NHS boards, trusts and other health related organisations, schools, colleges and universities, the police and the Scottish Parliament. It also covers a variety of other public bodies ranging from advisory committees to regulators and other organisations such as the Parole Board for Scotland, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. |
UK Government departments operating in Scotland, eg the MoD, Inland Revenue etc, and cross-border public authorities, such as the Forestry Commission, are covered by the UK act. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has established a regional office in Scotland to provide advice to these authorities, liaise with the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, and deal with data protection issues. Contact details can be found on the UK Information Commissioner’s website.
[What does
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act do?]
[Freedom of
information and the National Archives of Scotland]
[Freedom of
information codes of practice and records management]
[Making requests]
[Making
a request]
[Publication
schemes]
[Fees]
[Exemptions]
[Public interest]
[Refusal of
a request]
[Disclosure log]
[Scottish Information
Commissioner]
[Enforcement
powers]
[Powers
of entry and inspection]
[[Ministerial
certificates]
[Penalties]
[Interaction
of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act with other legislation
and regulations]
[Human
Rights Act, 1998]
[Data
Protection Act, 1998]
[Environmental
Information (Scotland) Regulations, 2004]
[Disability
Discrimination Act, 1995]
[Rehabilitation
of Offenders Act, 1974]
[Other
acts with information provisions]
|
You
are in: NAS> FOI > Basic guide to FOI
Print
this page
E-mail
this page 
Previous
page 
