Freedom of Information
The UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI) came into force fully on 1 January 2005. Under the Act, anybody may request information from a public body that has functions in England, Wales and/or Northern Ireland. There is a separate Act - Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 - that applies to information held by public bodies in Scotland. Public bodies include government departments, universities and some funding bodies such as the research councils.
Openness and Accountability
The FoI act aims to increase openness and accountability. Read about how this applies to animal research on our page here.
Exemptions
Not all information is required to be disclosed under the FoI act. There are a number of exemptions that may prevent the release of information. You can read more about these exemptions here.
Government guidance
The UK Ministry of Justice has provided guidance and resources to help public authorities deal with FoI requests.
FoI requests
Our FoI request page contains some examples of requests made to animal research facilities. A detailed brieifng of recent requests can also be downloaded here (pdf).
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Quick Facts
- FOI promotes a culture of openness and accountability
- FOI facilitates better understanding of public bodies and what they do
- There are 25 exemptions that may prevent release of information to the public, and five are relevant to animal research
- The Home Office has published about 500 animal research project licence summaries every year since 2005
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