Freedom of Information Handbook (2nd edition)

There is a clear public interest in this area, as well as an interest from those in public authorities who receive freedom of information requests, journalists and campaigners who make the requests and those whose information might be disclosed as a result of such requests. The media has run many stories which arise from the information disclosed under the Act '“ MP's expenses is just one of those stories.

So this handbook, which at about 370 pages is commendably compact, is an obvious place to start. The handbook contains a wealth of background and information both general and practical. It is divided into ten chapters, with a variety of contributors. It has been firmly edited to achieve a welcome coherence.

The chapters cover the background and history of this area of law, the influence of similar law in other jurisdictions, the procedure for accessing information, appealing and enforcing decisions or refusing access to information. There are good flowcharts in both these chapters.

There are also excellent chapters on the media and the implications for the private sector. As far as the media chapter is concerned, this makes fascinating reading. The successes and failures of requests are both equally telling. There is clearly a tension between the apparent opportunities the Act provides, and the desire of some public authorities to make use of the absolute and qualified exemptions which the Act makes available to them.

The private sector, in-house lawyers in particular, would wish to consider the Act from two perspectives. The first is what information of a commercially sensitive nature they must share with public bodies in order to gain public contracts, and what then might be disclosed by a FOIA request to their competitors or into the public domain generally. The second is, when they are in competition, what they can obtain about their competitors to assist generally or specifically in their commercial future.

There are also chapters on the interplay between the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act, and on the separate but nonetheless related Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Overall, the handbook is excellent. It is interesting and informative, with contributions from people very experienced in this field. The one criticism '“ made somewhat hesitantly because perhaps one should not always pander to modern trends '“ is the layout. One becomes used to (and perhaps rendered lazier by) bullet points, summaries and insets of essential information. These could perhaps be used by the busy practitioner coming new to this area as a quick way into the information, rather than something that detracts from the chapters themselves. If one has time, a well-written chapter, which is in effect an extended essay on a topic, is a pleasure to enjoy, but time does not always permit that luxury and perhaps both approaches could be catered for in future editions.