The Freedom of Information Act which was created in the year 2000 (great, now I have Busted's year 3000 in my head) to enable information which should be brought to the public's attention, to be found out. For example, it is a journalist's right to write to the police in order to ask them how many of their officer's have a criminal record. This all comes down to public interest once more.
However, you can't ask anything personal for example how much money a person earns, instead you need to ask, how many people earn over £100,000 a year? You also cannot use the Freedom of Information Act for spying purposes. E.g. Ask questions about war etc.
It is a criminal offence to refuse to give out information when asked. It is a necessary part of the Freedom of Information Act to publish a schedule or table on a company's Freedom of Information website page, stating how much money is spent in each department. Every citizen has the right to ask an FOI officer for information, they then must reply within 20 days with the requested information. The officer can say that finding out the requested information would cost too much money and therefore refuse to do the research. This is a legitimate excuse to refuse to hand over the information. Therefore, it is suggested that you should keep all questions simple, easily attainable and brief.
No comments:
Post a Comment