The Freedom of Information Act 2000 was passed on 30 November 2000. The Act gave a general right of access to recorded information held by public authorities, set out exemptions from that right and placed a number of obligations on public authorities. The two main duties for public authorities under the act are:
- Public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities
- Members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities
We are committed to ensuring its conduct and management is accountable and transparent. We meet the first main duty of the act by providing a Freedom of Information (FOI) publication scheme, which is a description of the information that is publicly made available.
We meet the second main duty of the act by responding to information requests from members of the public in a prompt and timely manner to ensure the timelines set down by the act can be met.
How to request information under the FOI Act
- First check to see if the information you require is available under the FOI publication scheme.
- If the information is not available on the publication scheme, please send an email to foi@hra.nhs.uk.
For a request to be valid it must:
- Be in writing
- State the name of the applicant
- State the address for correspondence (email or postal addresses are acceptable)
- Clearly describe the information requested
An acknowledgement letter will be sent to you advising the request will be dealt with according to the FOI Act within 7 days and a response will be provided as soon as possible and no later than 20 working days from the receipt of the request, assuming the request is valid and the information is held by us.
HRA FOI Performance Data
Under the FOI Code of Practice, organisations with over 100 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees should publish details of their performance on handling requests for information under the Act. The HRA will publish information here on a quarterly basis with an annual report presented to the Board, and published on the HRA Board page. The latest annual report (2018-19) is available here.
| Year | Total no. of requests received | No. of requests processed within statutory deadline (20 days) | No. of requests processed within extended statutory deadline (40 days) | No. of requests processed in excess of the statutory deadline | No. of requests yet to be processed |
| 2018/19 | 75 | 72 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019/20 | 78 (1 withdrawn) | 77 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020/21 | 62 | 57 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2021/22 | 88 | 84 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2022/23 (Q1) | 16 (2 withdrawn) | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022/23 (Q2) | 10 (1 withdrawn) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022/23 (Q3) | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Year |
No. of requests where the information was granted in full (of which nil returns) |
No. of requests where the information was refused in full | No. of requests where the information was granted in part and refused in part | No. of requests received that have been referred for internal review |
| 2018/19 | 58 (16) | 10 | 7 | 1 |
| 2019/20 | 59 (14) | 15 | 2 | 0 |
| 2020/21 | 50 (14) | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| 2021/22 | 79 (18) | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| 2022/23 (Q1) | 8 (3) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022/23 (Q2) | 5 (3) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022/23 (Q3) | 8 (2) | 0 | 0 | 1 |