Ministry of Justice publishes list of companies to be subject to the FOIA

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has provided some information about bodies they regard as likely to be brought within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act by changes brought by the Protection of Freedoms Bill. The Protection of Freedoms Bill would extend the definition of ‘publicly owned company ' to a company which is wholly owned by more than one public authority.

A response to the FOI request by the Campaign for the Freedom of Information said:

‘We do not hold a comprehensive list of all bodies which will come within scope of the FOIA through this change. However, we carried out targeted research on a number of local authorities to estimate the number of bodies likely to be affected by this change within local government… We have estimated from this information that the number of bodies that will be brought within scope under the changes to section 6 will be at least 100.’

Such jointly owned companies identified include Manchester Airport PLC, owned by 10 Greater Manchester local authorities, Gloucestershire Airport, Shoreham (Brighton City) Airport and others.

The MoJ also plans to include more than 200 harbour authorities under the FOIA. The MoJ is consulting all the authorities in question.

Read more about this topic in PL&B UK Report, January 2012.