Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) [1], individuals have a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by a Scottish public authority. The purpose of the FOISA is to assist in fostering greater openness and transparency across the Scottish Public sector. It is designed to strengthen public accountability and increase public involvement in decision-making by the disclosure of information, whether proactively or in response to specific requests. However, it will not generally be appropriate for an individual’s dental records to be released in response to a FOISA request because release of this information is protected by the Data Protection Act 1998 [2] (see Data Protection Act 1998).
The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for enforcing and promoting the right to access information held by public authorities, created by the FOISA and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 [3].