Public authority

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) defines a public authority as any body which, any other person who, or the holder of any office which:

• Is listed in schedule 1, or
• Is designated by order under section 5, or
• A publicly-owned company as defined by section 6.

Schedule 1 suggests that public authorities include:

• Government departments.
• Legislative bodies.
• The armed forces.
• Local government.
• The National Health Service.
• The Police.
• Maintained schools.
• Further and higher education institutions.
• Other public bodies, including individually named non-departmental public bodies.

Section 4(4) of the Act permits certain additions to and removals from schedule 1.

Section 5 permits the Secretary of State to designate bodies as public authorities if they appear to be carrying out functions of a public nature or are contracted to provide a service which is a function of a public authority.

Section 6 suggests that a company is publicly-owned if:

• It is wholly owned by the Crown,
• It is wholly owned by the wider public sector, or
• It is wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector.

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