Freedom of Information Act Online Training

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In this Freedom of Information Act online training course, you will learn about the Freedom of Information Act, how requests can be made, and the process for responding to requests.

You will find this Freedom of Information Act online training useful if you are a public authority employee and want to learn about how the Freedom of Information Act may affect your role, if you are a member of the public who wants to learn about Freedom of Information requests or if you are just curious and want to learn about the Freedom of Information Act, how it helps us, and why it’s so important.

Please note that this course is an audio-only course.  If you're more of a visual learner, there is an option to follow the transcript to the course or you can put the subtitles on.

The course consists of one section.

1. The Freedom of Information Act

Transparency is a key component of trust and this is why it’s important for a democratic government to be transparent and to avoid being secretive.

Until 2005 public authorities weren’t required to share information with the public and they often chose to only release the information they wanted to. However, all that changed when in 1997, Tony Blair’s incoming Labour government promised to increase transparency across all areas of government.

This led to the Freedom of Information Act being passed in 2000 and coming into force in 2005.

This course firstly looks at transparency and why it’s so important in building trust, particularly between the government and the general public.

Secondly the course defines public authorities.  These are the organisations responsible for maintaining transparency with the public.

Thirdly the course discusses the two main obligations placed on public authorities by the Act, A- to routinely publish certain kinds of information through a publication scheme; and B - to respond to FOI Requests.

Lastly, the course considers some of the grounds upon which a request for information can be refused and what exemptions apply to certain kinds of information. 

There are additional resources for more information on this topic available for download at the end of this course.

The course finishes with a test and on successful completion of this test a CPD accredited certificate will be available for download.

Course Sections

1. The Freedom of Information Act

Discount available for multiple courses. Please contact us for details