If I wanted to find out the types of wine preferred by government nabobs I can now do so. How? Well I can send a written request to the Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the information. The committee has 20 working days to respond. If it fails to do so I can request the information commissioner to order it to respond. He can invite the High Court to declare it in contempt of court if this order is ignored. All this is possible by virtue of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which was fully implemented on 1 January 2005 and states: "Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled ... to have that information communicated to him." The act applies to England, Wales, Northern Ireland and UK authorities operating in Scotland. There is similar legislation for Scottish public authorities.
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