Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) provides the public with a general right of access to information held by public bodies, such as local government, the police, the NHS, and state schools.

The Brent Safeguarding Partnerships are statutory partnerships and are not considered public authorities for the purposes of the FOI. The Safeguarding Partnerships are therefore exempt from the duty to provide information under FOI.

Section 3 of the FOI Act provides that:

(2) For the purposes of this Act, information is held by a public authority if—

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person, or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

A FOI request may be made directly to partner agencies of the Safeguarding Partnerships. Where a partner which is deemed to be a public authority under the FOI holds information for its own purposes, then it does so otherwise than on behalf of another person, and the information held will be subject to the FOI.

However, partners in possession of Brent Safeguarding Partnerships minutes, documents, reports, etc, are holding this information on behalf of ‘another person’ (the Safeguarding Partnership) and it is therefore not liable to disclosure under an FOI request.