Two Way Street
The legislation makes it explicit that the public authority has to provide every assistance to satisfy a request and that they should do so in a timely fashion. The authority can levy a reasonable charge for supplying the information and can also request clarification if the request is not sufficiently specific.
If a request is covered by an exemption then this should be stated. If the request is unreasonable or vexatious then the public authority is entitled to refuse the request. If an individual believes that the authority is not complying with its obligations then there is a right of appeal.
In Practice
The Act has been in force for some time now and a pattern is emerging as to its use. Yes, it is being used for the purpose intended. However, this appears to be the minority use. The majority of requests are commercially instigated, used for party politics or the Press in search of stories. Clarification of grey areas is slow in coming as the Information Commissioner has a backlog of adjudications to make and to date has not made any landmark judgements or exemplary enforcements.
Public bodies have not been inundated with requests as at first feared. This is fortuitous as many were ill prepared and simply held their breath to see what would transpire. Where it has had the greatest impact is that much more information is pro-actively made available, principally through Web sites. With this substantial body of information now available it may become like finding a needle in a haystack to uncover some of the real gems.