The Freedom of Information Act 2000 was introduced in order to facilitate the access of members of the public to information held by public authorities, subject to certain exceptions.
However, the scope of the legislation (which is set out in Section 3 of the Act) only applies to public authorities cited in Schedule 1 of the Act or designated by ministerial order and to companies which are publicly owned.
The legislation does not apply to private companies - such as the Community Rehabilitation Companies - each of which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Purple Futures LLP, an Interserve-led partnership.
The Community Rehabilitation Company is therefore not subject to any statutory duty under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to make available to any member of the public the information which it holds. Even if the Community Rehabilitation Company were subject to such a statutory duty, it is likely that the information held by the Authority which was the subject of an enquiry would fall within the statutory exemption covering the disclosure of information which would prejudice law enforcement or the administration of justice.
In addition, the Community Rehabilitation Company is precluded from so doing due to binding obligations of confidentiality under the contract it has entered into with the Secretary of State for Justice.
We would therefore ask that members of the public refrain from submitting applications for disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.