Legal services, legislation and technical compliance

Freedom of Information

“Overall, I consider that the Freedom of Information Project Team has successfully prepared Land Registry for the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We have trained our staff on how to deal with requests for information and we have alerted our customers to our commitment by publishing a public guide.” (Mick Lewis, Land Registry’s Head of Public Affairs, April 2005)

The aim of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) is to bring about a culture change in the way public authorities in England and Wales view the information they hold or for which they are responsible. The Act came fully into force on 1 January 2005.

We made all our staff aware of the FOIA through two bulletins that provided an overview of the Act and guidance on how to identify a Freedom of Information request. On their return to work in January, all staff were asked to work through a series of FOIA training modules before continuing their normal work. Following on from the lawyer training in 2004, 22 FOIA presentations were given to groups of staff across the organisation. All internal practice material and practice guides were reviewed and, where necessary, revised to bring them into line with the requirements of the FOIA. Where uncertainties arose about the disclosability of information held by Land Registry, we sought advice from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

We have alerted customers to our commitment to the provisions of the FOIA through a public guide and placed posters in all Customer Information Centres. We have also reviewed our Publication Scheme every year since we received approval from the Information Commissioner in November 2002. No changes to the eight classes of information set out in the scheme have been considered necessary.