About us
Freedom of information
Information about the Freedom of Information Act and security.
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act gives everybody the right to access information held by public authorities - including central government departments. This means that anyone can request information from us.
The act covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For Information on FOI rules in Scotland, please see the website of the Scottish Executive (new window).
Requests for information
We we aim to make as much information as possible publicly available via this website. This includes information about the work of the the counter-terrorism and intelligence directorates.
However, since some information is inevitably classified, there will be some FOI requests that we cannot fulfil because of the need to protect national security.
Nonetheless, we will handle any request for information in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (new window).
Timescale
We aim to respond to written requests for information within 20 working days.
However, some exemptions in the act require us to consider whether it is in the public interest to withhold information. In some instances, consideration of the public interest issue may take longer than 20 days.
In those cases we will provide an estimate of when we will have reached a decision within 20 working days of receiving the request.
Who to contact
Queries can be referred to us via the email addresses on the contact us page.
For further information on the Home Office and the Freedom of Information Act, including our publication policy and how to complain, visit the Freedom of Information section of the Home Office website (new window).
