Section 1General right of access to information held by public authorities.

(1) Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled—

• (a)
  to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and
• (b)
  if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.

(2) Subsection (1) has effect subject to the following provisions of this section and to the provisions of sections 2, 9, 12 and 14.

(3) Where a public authority—

• (a)
  reasonably requires further information in order to identify and locate the information requested, and
• (b)
  has informed the applicant of that requirement,

the authority is not obliged to comply with subsection (1) unless it is supplied with that further information.

(4) The information—

• (a)
  in respect of which the applicant is to be informed under subsection (1)(a), or
• (b)
  which is to be communicated under subsection (1)(b),

is the information in question held at the time when the request is received, except that account may be taken of any amendment or deletion made between that time and the time when the information is to be communicated under subsection (1)(b), being an amendment or deletion that would have been made regardless of the receipt of the request.

(5) A public authority is to be taken to have complied with subsection (1)(a) in relation to any information if it has communicated the information to the applicant in accordance with subsection (1)(b).

(6) In this Act, the duty of a public authority to comply with subsection (1)(a) is referred to as “the duty to confirm or deny”.