The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) and the associated Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs) came fully into force on 1 January 2005.

This bulletin presents statistics on their implementation within the central government monitored bodies for the quarterly period of January to March 2022.

Statistics standards and policies

Freedom of Information statistics are designated National Statistics in accordance with the https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/18/contents" class="govuk-link">Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality, and public value.

All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm. The authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate. FOI statistics were most recently assessed by the authority during 2016, with continuing designation granted in June 2017.

All Cabinet Office official statistics are governed by the standards set out by the UK Statistics Authority in their code of practice. These can be found on our statistics standards and policies page. Further detail on the production of the FOI statistics can be found on our FOI statistics supporting documents page.

Tell us what you think

We would welcome views on Freedom of Information Statistics. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdANtqjWv8V6W4CuiUmMnPRFuSKYayHKuKjneHd-jpxDXnPYQ/viewform?c=0&w=1" class="govuk-link">Please fill in our user feedback form or email us at foistatistics@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Feedback received will contribute to future development of these statistics.

Lists current and former public sector bodies – updated to incorporate classification decisions made.

Guide to ASHE results tables.

International standards data looking at the General Government operations and transactions relating to this area.

This guidance note sets out the recommended standard presentation of statistics for health areas within the countries and regions of the UK. (File Size - 474 KB)

The Environmental Permitting Regulations amongst other things implement the IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) Directive (EC/61/96) in England and Wales. Facilities covered by this legislation are known as Installations and generally have significant releases to air land or water or carry out certain larger scale waste management activities. Further information on the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) and the IPPC directive is available on our website or at www.defra.gov.uk This dataset covers all Process Industry sites within the EPR regime and some larger waste activities. Other smaller waste facilities are known as 'Waste Operations' (formerly known as Waste Management Licences) and are covered in a separate dataset see below. This is a quarterly snapshot of effective permitted installations.

This User Guide contains information about the ONSPD including: directory content; data currency; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data formats; data quality and limitations and details of recent changes that have impacted on the data. Various annexes and tables provide more detailed supporting information. The download includes PDF and ODT versions of the user guide. (File size - 815 KB)

This document sets out the general principles for the standard presentation of statistics in the UK and is now available in accessible format. (File Size - 79 KB)

This User Guide contains information about the ONSPD including: directory content; data currency; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data formats; data quality and limitations and details of recent changes that have impacted on the data. Various annexes and tables provide more detailed supporting information. (File size - 805 KB)

This dataset represents an accumulation of invertebrate records from both common standards monitoring (CSM) and the testing of ISIS (Invertebrate Species-habitats Information System). Invertebrate species were recorded using a specific survey protocol for rapid assessment of invertebrate assemblage features on protected sites. Attribution statement: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right [year].

This User Guide contains information about the NSUL including: directory content; data currency; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data formats; data quality and limitations and details of recent changes that have impacted on the data. Various annexes and tables provide more detailed supporting information. The download includes PDF and ODT versions of the user guide. (File size - 366 KB)

The National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework was set up to provide a better understanding of energy use and intensity in domestic and non-domestic buildings.

These documents provide data on non-domestic energy use.