Freedom of Information Act

Right of Access

With effect from 1 January 2005, any person can make a request for information from the College and is entitled to be told whether or not the College holds that information and if it does the right to have the information communicated. The request must be in writing.

Exemptions

There are a number of exemptions from disclosure and if the College wishes to rely on any of these then in refusing the request for information the College must state which exemption it is relying on. Exemptions can be absolute or qualified. If qualified, the test is to see if the public interest to disclose outweighs the interest not to. The following are categorised as absolute exemptions:

1. Information available by other means.
2. Information supplied by or relating to bodies dealing with the security services.
3. Information relating to court records.
4. Most personal information which is covered by the Data Protection Act.
5. Information provided in confidence.
6. Information prohibited from disclosure.

The following are considered to be qualified exemptions:

1. Information intended for future publication.
2. National security.
3. Defence.
4. International relations.
5. Relations within the U.K.
6. Economy.
7. Investigations and proceedings conducted by a public authority.
8. Law enforcement.
9. Audit functions.
10. Health and Safety.
11. Environmental information.
12. Some personal information.
13. Legal profession privilege.
14. Commercial interest.

Further information and guidance can be obtained from the Information Commissioners’ website.

http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Wanda Ford
Vice-Principal: Business Management

Please click here to download our Freedom of Information Policy.

Please click here to download our Publication Scheme.

Please click here to download our Classes of Information.