Freedom of information

About the Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 promotes greater openness and accountability by the United Kingdom’s public authorities. Amongst other things, it requires us to make known to the public, by means of a Publication Scheme, information which we publish or intend to publish.

In this context, ‘publish’ means to make information routinely available either online or by some other means. A Publication Scheme:

  • sets out the classes of information published
  • explains how the information can be obtained or accessed
  • lists any charges that may apply

All University records, with a few exemptions (FOI) and exceptions (EIR), are potentially open to greater scrutiny by the public.

As an individual you are entitled to access information from public authorities including from The University of Northampton itself.

Find our guidance on how to make a request [PDF, 142KB].

  • All employees of the University of Northampton need to be aware of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act and be prepared to act quickly if they receive a request for information.

    • Handling Freedom of Information requests – View the flowchart
    • View Tick Tock training video (Tick Tock, produced by the Information Commissioner’s Office, is a short Freedom of Information training DVD that is available to view online)

    If you receive a request for information that is not something your school or department deals with on a day to day basis or it is unusual it is likely to be a request under the Act. You should:

    • refer it to the Records Management Office immediately
    • inform a senior manager in your school or department that you have received a request and have forwarded it to us

    As we only have twenty working days to locate and provide the information to the person requesting it, the sooner we can start the process the better.

  • Our disclosure logs provide a searchable index of requests received by the University.

    As well as indicating whether or not the information requested was released by the University, the disclosure log provides details of any exemptions that may have been applied to the request. Our response letter, as sent to the requester, is also available to view.

    Please note the legacy Disclosure log covers FoIs up to November 2020, for FoI after this date, please download the FoI Data sheet from the link below.

Contact us

If you require further information or help please contact the Records Management Office.

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