Introduction

This chapter focuses on the exemptions available under the UK Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FoISA). They are covered in order of the FoIA, but any section number differences are included in Table 3.1 so that if you work for a Scottish public authority you can find the right section more easily.

The first section covers what you have to consider when applying an exemption, which also includes whether you have to apply the public interest test or prejudice test. Both of these are explained below. Each exemption is discussed, with the particular issues to look out for when you are thinking of applying the exemption. If you are new to Freedom of Information (FoI), you will find this section more useful. Those with more experience may prefer to head straight to the exemption guidance.

Covered in this chapter are:

Covered in Chapter 2 are:

As in Chapter 2, when I refer to ‘you’ I am thinking of the records manager or information manager who finds themselves in the position of having to manage responses to FoI requests. You can read through the whole of both chapters or dip into the parts that have the most relevance. I suggest reading through all the exemptions at least once to ensure that you are familiar with them all. You will use certain exemptions many times, but others very rarely. It is worth knowing about those other ones for the few occasions when you need them.

Refusing the request due to an exemption

Section 17 of the FoIA and section 16 of the FoISA set out the requirements of a refusal notice. The two sections are similar, but not the same.