Freedom of Information Act (Code of Practice)

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mrs Helen Grant)]

My noble friend the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, Lord McNally, has made the following written ministerial statement:

The Government will today issue, under section 45 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a new code of practice in relation to the release and reuse of datasets under FOIA. It supplements but does not replace the existing code of practice issued under section 45 for public authorities on the discharge of their current obligations under part 1 of FOIA.

This new code of practice will provide guidance for public authorities on best practice to follow in discharging their new responsibilities in relation to datasets provided for by section 102 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Section 102, which is not yet in force, amends section 11 (means by which communication to be made) and section 19 (publication schemes) of FOIA and inserts new sections 11A and 1B. Once commenced, these changes, which form an important part of our transparency agenda, will mean that where a person requests information under FOIA that is or forms part of a dataset, and expresses a preference to receive it in electronic form, the public authority must (if FOIA requires the dataset to be released) provide the dataset in an electronic form which allows its reuse. The result will be that the public authority must, first, provide the dataset in a reusable format, where reasonably practicable; and, secondly, grant a licence (in accordance with one of the specified licences referred to in this code) under which its datasets may be reused.

In particular, this code of practice provides further guidance on key definitions and the circumstances where it will be reasonably practicable for public authorities to provide datasets in a reusable format; the disclosure of datasets; their reuse, including licensing and charging arrangements; the circumstances where it may be appropriate to publish updated versions of datasets on an ongoing basis; and the provision of advice and assistance to applicants in relation to these provisions.

The code of practice will take effect when section 102 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is commenced on 1 September. To coincide with commencement. Regulations authorising the charging of fees for reuse of datasets will be made and laid before Parliament under section 11B of FOIA. These will also come into force on 1 September.

In line with my responsibilities under section 45 of FOIA, I will arrange for a copy of the code of practice to be laid before each House of Parliament.