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What You Can Access

You have a right to apply for access to documents that are held by an agency which is covered by the Freedom of Information Act. This includes:

• Documents created by the agency.
• Documents supplied to the agency by an external organisation or individual.

You can apply for access to:

• Documents about your personal affairs, regardless of the age of the documents.
• Documents of a non-personal nature, not older than 5 July 1978.
• Documents held by a Council, not older than 1 January 1989.

It is not only documents in paper form that are accessible. The word 'documents' covers a broad range of media including maps, films, microfiche, photographs, computer printouts, emails, computer discs, tape recordings and videotapes. 

You may ask for a copy of the document, or you may request access to the document, for example, to see a film or to get a transcript of a tape recording. Costs may apply.