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The following press release provides a useful reminder of the timetable for implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, in particular when "publication schemes" need to have been drawn up and adopted: Lord Chancellor's Department Press Notice 395-02 13 November 2002 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - COMMENCEMENT ORDER MADE The Government has made a commencement order to continue the process of implementing the Freedom of Information Act, in accordance with the timetable the Lord Chancellor announced last November. The Order formally sets in train the obligation on various public authorities to adopt and maintain a publication scheme. Each scheme lists the classes of information the authority will be making available to the public, the manner in which information in each class will be published, and whether or not the material is available free of charge or on payment. The timetable confirmed for the publication schemes provisions in the Order is as follows: 30 November 2002 Central Government (except the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office), Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Non-departmental public bodies currently subject to the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. 28 February 2003 Local Government (except Police Authorities) 30 June 2003 Police forces, Police Authorities, Crown Prosecution Service, Serious Fraud Office, Armed Forces. Agreement has also been reached with the National Assembly for Wales that Assembly-Sponsored Public Bodies (ASPBs) will become subject to the publication scheme provisions of the Act from November 2002. The same date will apply in Northern Ireland, both to Northern Ireland Departments and public bodies under the jurisdiction of the Northern Ireland Ombudsman. In addition to the publication scheme provisions, the commencement order will introduce other provisions of the Act which will come into force on 30 November. These are being introduced so that: - the publication scheme provisions of the Act can be enforced by the Information Commissioner (insofar as they will apply to any authority at any time); - the two Codes of Practice, under section 45 and section 46 of the Act can be issued by the end of November 2002; - the Information Commissioner can issue information notices and practice recommendations relating to provisions in the section 45 Code that concern publication schemes. (The Commissioner will not be able to issue practice recommendations about other provisions of the section 45 Code nor about any provisions of the section 46 Code until the general right of access is implemented on 1 January 2005.) - the functions of the Advisory Council on Public Records are extended to include matters relating the application of the FOI Act to public records which are historical records. Notes for Editors 1. The Government's programme for implementing the Freedom of Information Act was set out by the Lord Chancellor last November (LCD press notice 395-01). The Department's website has a section with further details on the Act: http://www.lcd.gov.uk/foi/foidpunit.htm 2. There are three further "waves" to implement the publication scheme provisions: - 30 October 2003 - Health Service. - 29 February 2004 - Schools, universities, remaining NDPBs and other public bodies, including publicly owned companies as defined in section 6 of the Act. - 30 June 2004 - remaining public authorities (this "wave" is predominantly intended for bodies designated as public bodies for the purposes of FOI under section 5 of the Act). A further commencement order covering these will be made next year, in sufficient time for the first coming into force date of 30 October 2003. 3. The general right of access will come into force 1 January 2005. 4. Under section 47 of the Act, the Information Commissioner is under a duty to promote the following of good practice by public authorities. This duty includes promoting the observance by public authorities of the provisions of the Codes of Practice issued under sections 45 and 46 the Act. If it seems to the Commissioner that a public authority's practice does not conform with what is proposed in the Codes, he can give the authority a recommendation under section 48 (a practice recommendation) specifying the steps which, in his opinion, the authority should take in order to conform to the relevant Code. 5. Extending the powers of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on Public Records will enable the Advisory Council to advise the Lord Chancellor on implementation policies and strategies as they affect public records. Information about the Advisory Council can be found on the Public Record office website at http://www.pro.gov.uk/advisorycouncil/default.htm ENDS Lord Chancellor's Department Press Notice Selborne House, 54 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QW www.lcd.gov.uk