MOD file DEFE 24/2032/1

Ministry of Defence
Room 830 St Giles Court. 1-13 St Giles H Street. London WC2H BLD
Telephone (Direct dialling (Fax)
1on (Exploitation)
Access 2
Ministry ofDefence
Directorate of Air Staff (Lower Airspace)
Operations and Policy 1
Room 6/73 Metropole Building
Northumberland Avenue
London WC2N 5BP 26th November 2002
I am writing in response to your query regarding a letter from Dr Clarke. I suggest you
include in your reply a few words along the following lines:
'The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 gives a right of access to all information
held by public authorities. Any person making a request for information to a public
authority is entitled to be informed whether the public authority holds such information
and, if that is the case, to have the information communicated to them unless an
exemption applies. As you have noted, this right of access becomes effective on 1
January 2005. Both MOD and the Public Record Office (PRO) are public authorities
under the terms of the Act and therefore the information in the public records they hold is
within its scope.
The FOI Act repeals the access provisions in section 5(1) of the Public Records Act
1958-1967 and hence from January 2005 access to public records, wherever they are and
irrespective of the age of the records, will be governed by the FOI Act. The 30 year
closure period as a default goes, therefore, although the 30 year point remains significant
for two reasons: first, the obligation on departments to transfer records to the PRO before
they reach 30 years old remains (PRA s 3(4)) and second, some exemptions cease to
apply after 30 years (FOIA s 63(1)).
The FOI Act requires the PRO, as the authority holding the records, to respond to
requests for information relating to closed records by reviewing them to determine
whether an exemption applies. This is done in consultation with the department. If it is