Organisations and officials with public responsibilities that are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act
Introduction
This is a list of:
- Organisations which have public responsibilities and/or receive public funding and
- Public Officials
Who are NOT subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the equivalent Act for Scotland.
This list may include certain organisations making use of assets or land owned by the Crown even where they are self-financing and similar organisations.
What is the point of this list? It may help people who want to write to the Ministry of Justice to get these organisations/officials added.
See also Which organisations are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000?
Banks that have been nationalised, including Northern Rock
Not subject to the Act:
- Northern Rock - Currently owned 100% by the Government, but exempt under the terms of The Northern Rock plc Transfer Order 2008 No. 432 [1]
- The elements of the following banks taken over by the Bank of England are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act due to these laws:
- The Heritable Bank plc Transfer of Certain Rights and Liabilities Order 2008 No. 2644 [2] - parts transferred to BoE subsidiary "Deposits Management (Heritable) Limited".
- The Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Limited Transfer of Certain Rights and Liabilities Order 2008 No. 2674 [3] - parts transferred to BoE subsidiary "Deposits Management (Edge) Limited"
- The Bradford & Bingley plc Transfer of Securities and Property etc. Order 2008 No. 2546 [4]
It is important to note that the following financial institutions are subject to the Act:
- Bank of England
- certain muninicipal banks such as
- North Ayrshire Municipal Bank Limited
- East Dunbartonshire Municipal Bank Limited
- National Savings and Investments
- Post Office
British Board of Film Classification
The BBFC is an independent, non-governmental body, which has classifies cinema films and videos. (Video Recordings Act in 1984).
British Standards Institution (BSI)
The BSI is a private company with some public responsibilities:
"BSI British Standards is recognised as the UK National Standards Body (NSB) by the UK Government. The UK NSB role is performed by BSI British Standards on behalf of the UK Government and principally involves the representation of the UK in European and International standards fora."
Confederation of the Cinque Ports, The
Coroner
"Coroners are independent judicial officers appointed and paid for by the relevant local authorities who are responsible for investigating violent, unnatural deaths or sudden deaths of unknown cause and deaths in custody that are reported to them."
"Coroners are not designated as public authorities under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore their records are not subject to the
information access regime of this Act. There is a separate information access regime for
such records over which the Commissioner has no jurisdiction"
"Please be aware however that the Coroner is not subject to Freedom of Information and a request to him under that heading would most likely be refused"
Duchy of Cornwall
"Under the 1337 charter, and as confirmed by subsequent legislation, The Prince of Wales is not entitled to the proceeds or profit on the sale of assets, and only receives the annual income which they generate, which is voluntarily subject to income tax. Because of the importance of the beneficiary, the Duchy’s ‘trust provisions’ have, over the years, been set out in legislation, with the financial security of the Duchy overseen by HM Treasury."
Duchy of Lancashire
"The Duchy's main purpose is to provide income for the Sovereign as Duke of Lancaster, although the Sovereign is not entitled to any of the capital assets of the Duchy. Established over 700 years ago, the Duchy of Lancaster is a body created under Charter."
The Duchy claims not to be subject to EIR.
Electrical Registration Officer
See Returning Officer
High Sheriffs
Contemporary High Sheriffs have few genuine responsibilities and their functions are largely representational they include:
- Proclamation of the accession of a new sovereign.
- They usually act as the Returning Officer for Parliamentary elections in county constituencies and see to the annual appointment of an undersheriff.
- Attendance at the opening ceremony when a High Court Judge goes on circuit.
- Execution of High Court writs.
The Independent Penalty Fares Appeals Service (IPFAS)
"4.39 Every penalty fares scheme which has so far been approved has arranged for appeals to be dealt with by the Independent Penalty Fares Appeals Service (IPFAS), in line with the IPFAS code of practice. We have approved this code of practice for the purposes of rule 9."
"IPFAS is managed by Connex SouthEastern Ltd, but as a separate unit whose management does not report to the commercial director. When the Regulator asked for opinions from the public and the rail industry a few years ago, most people agreed that appeals must be dealt with independently and consistently, but there was little agreement on what the practical arrangements should be"[5]
Housing Associations
Vast majority are not subject to FOI (in theory one could be if it was wholly owned by a local authority). Based on a recent ruling by the Information Commissioner, they are subject to the Environment Information Regulations.
London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited (LOCOG)
London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited (“LOCOG”) is a private company and is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.[6]
Lord Lieutenants
The modern responsibilities of lord-lieutenants include:
- Arranging visits of members of the Royal family and escorting Royal visitors;
- Presenting medals and awards on behalf of the Sovereign, and advising on Honours nominations;
- Leading the local magistracy as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace; and
- Chairing the local Advisory Committee for the Appointment of the General Commissioners of Income Tax, a tribunal which hears appeals against decisions made by the HM Revenue and Customs on a variety of different tax related matters.
Network Rail
"Network Rail is a British "not for dividend" company limited by guarantee whose principal asset is Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, a company limited by shares. Network Rail owns and operates the fixed infrastructure assets of the British railway system." (Wikipedia)
The company is not subject to the Act or Environmental Information Regulations.
"56 Notwithstanding our decision on the issue of law arising on these appeals and without wishing to cast any doubt on the environmental credentials of the Appellants, we have some concerns as to its implications. NRIL is a major landowner whose estate is intensively visited by the public, has a significant impact on the daily lives of many people and, in the words of its website, includes “many sites of great environmental, geological, historical and architectural importance” as well as much contaminated land. Yet, if our decision is correct, it has no duty to provide information in accordance with EIR.
57 The structure, functions and accountability of NRL are clearly unusual and it may be that the consequences for its legal responsibilities as to environmental information, given the practical realities of its stewardship, are therefore anomalous.
58 DEFRA and/or the Department of Transport may wish to consider whether, by whatever route, NRIL should be brought within EIR (rather than FOIA) so that it is required to supply environmental information. We recognise that there may be no convenient way to achieve this within the existing regulations but believe that the present position is clearly unsatisfactory."
Press Complaints Commission
"The Press Complaints Commission is an independent body which deals with complaints from members of the public about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines."
Private prisons
'Private' in the sense of control or ownership but with serious public responsibilities.
Publicly Owned Companies
If a company meets one (or more) of the following conditions it will be subject to FOI:
- companies listed in Schedule 1 of the Act
- companies wholly owned by the Crown
- companies wholly owned by one public authority
However there are many companies 100% owned by a number of public authorities that do not meet this definition.
examples:
- Better Tomorrows Community Interest Company [7]
- Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal Company [8]
- East of England Regional Control Centre Limited [9]
- Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) [10]
- Manchester Airport plc
- North East FireControl Company Limited [11]
- Russell Group
- Stirling Enterprise Park Limited
- South West England Regional Network Limited (SWERN)
- South West Grid for Learning
- Trading Standards South East Limited
other possible examples of companies funded and/or controlled by public authorities
- Black Country Consortium
- Employers' Organisation for Local Government
- The JNT Association (JANET)
Queen
Head of State and in charge of the British Armed Forces.
Regional Assemblies
The Freedom of Information Act does not apply to regional assemblies.
http://www.foi.gov.uk/yourRights/coverageguide.htm#era
Returning Officer
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not list any person appointed under the Representation of the People Act 1983. The Electoral Registration Officer, Returning Officer or any other person appointed under the Act are not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.[12]
Royal Household
The Royal Household aims to provide exceptional support and advice to The Queen, enabling her to serve the nation and its people.
The Royal Household employs over 1,200 staff.
Port Authorities
The Port of London was found to be subject to EIR, but the Port Authorities of England are not subject to the Act.
Subsidiary of a public authorities "which is listed only in relation to particular information"
This includes any publically owned companies / subsidiaries of the BBC (eg BBC Worldwide),Channel 4, Gaelic Media Service, S4C, or the Bank of England, as these have special "derogations" in the Freedom of Information Act (eg the BBC is only subject to the Act for information that does not fall into the category of journalism, art or literature). This is specified in the Act in Section 6(1)(b)(ii).
Any Publicly-owned companies / subsidiaries of government departments are also excluded from the Act, unless they are specifically listed in Schedule 1 of the Act. There is a list of the centrally owned companies here on the Shareholder Executive's website
Trinity House
"The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond". The General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Also a Deep Sea Pilotage Authority providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters.
Verderers
- The Verderers of the Forest of Dean are not subject to the Act.
- The Verderers of the New Forest derive their offices, powers and responsibilities from an Act of Parliament in 1877[13], they were brought into scope of the Freedom of Information Act in 2006. Official Website
Water and Sewage Companies
These companies have no real competition and provide a vital public service they are subject to Environmental Information Regulations but not to the Freedom of Information Act.
