Out-Law News 1 min. read

Freedom of Information – the MoD responds


The Ministry of Defence has received 3000 requests under the Freedom of Information Act since the Act came into force on 1st January. Queries have included a request for an old Royal Navy recipe for curried meatballs, and details of the MoD's policy on alien abduction.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act came into full effect on 1st January, giving individuals for the first time the statutory right to see a massive amount of information held by Government departments and thousands of public bodies.

People now have a right to information on the way decisions are made, and public money is spent, by more than 100,000 public authorities, including Government departments, schools, NHS Trusts, police forces and local authorities.

Under the Act, anyone, of any nationality, and living anywhere in the world, can make a written request for information, and expect a response within 20 working days. The 20 days are calculated from the day after a request is received.

Public authorities must disclose properly requested information unless an exemption applies. In most cases, even where an exemption applies, they must still disclose information to the public if the public interest in disclosure is greater than the competing public interest in the particular exemption.

The Government revealed in February that the National Archives, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the MoD were top targets for requests under the new regime – but the MoD must surely claim the prize for the most unusual requests, including:

  1. "Have we done any experiments with aliens? Have aliens actually landed on Earth? There are thousands of questions I could ask, but what I really want to know is are there extraterrestrials on this planet? Please, please, please could you tell me if there are photos? Because I really need to know. I PROMISE to keep it a secret."
  2. "Please can you tell me which kind of tea is drunk by the Ministry of Defence?"
  3. "Do you have or know where I could get a workshop manual for a Reynolds Boughton RB44 as I'm doing an overland trip from Sweden to Cape Town?"
  4. "Can I have an old Royal Navy recipe for Sauteed Kidneys and Curried Meatballs?" and
  5. "Please could you send me a copy of the MoD's policy on alien abduction?"

Jane Lewis, the Assistant Director for the FOI team at the MoD, said "Some of the requests we get are more eccentric than others, but we take each request very seriously and answer it as fully as we can."

According to the MoD, the department has actually responded in full to more requests than any other single department has received. With 67% of requests granted in full and many more released in part, the MoD says that it has one of the lowest levels of refusals of FOI requests in Government.

A selection of the responses to the requests can be found at the Ministry of Defence Freedom of Information Reading Room

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