The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act came into full effect on
1st January, giving individuals for the first time the statutory
right to see a massive amount of information held by Government
departments and thousands of public bodies.
People now have a right to information on the way decisions are
made, and public money is spent, by more than 100,000 public
authorities, including Government departments, schools, NHS Trusts,
police forces and local authorities.
Under the Act, anyone, of any nationality, and living anywhere
in the world, can make a written request for information, and
expect a response within 20 working days. The 20 days are
calculated from the day after a request is received.
Public authorities must disclose properly requested information
unless an exemption applies. In most cases, even where an exemption
applies, they must still disclose information to the public if the
public interest in disclosure is greater than the competing public
interest in the particular exemption.
The Government revealed in February that the National Archives,
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the MoD were top targets
for requests under the new regime – but the MoD must surely claim
the prize for the most unusual requests, including:
- "Have we done any experiments with aliens? Have aliens actually
landed on Earth? There are thousands of questions I could ask, but
what I really want to know is are there extraterrestrials on this
planet? Please, please, please could you tell me if there are
photos? Because I really need to know. I PROMISE to keep it a
secret."
- "Please can you tell me which kind of tea is drunk by the
Ministry of Defence?"
- "Do you have or know where I could get a workshop manual for a
Reynolds Boughton RB44 as I'm doing an overland trip from Sweden to
Cape Town?"
- "Can I have an old Royal Navy recipe for Sauteed Kidneys and
Curried Meatballs?" and
- "Please could you send me a copy of the MoD's policy on alien
abduction?"
Jane Lewis, the Assistant Director for the FOI team at the MoD,
said "Some of the requests we get are more eccentric than others,
but we take each request very seriously and answer it as fully as
we can."
According to the MoD, the department has actually responded in
full to more requests than any other single department has
received. With 67% of requests granted in full and many more
released in part, the MoD says that it has one of the lowest levels
of refusals of FOI requests in Government.
A selection of the responses to the requests can be found at the
Ministry of
Defence Freedom of Information Reading Room
