FOI and section 125 of the Local Government Act 2020

From 24 October 2020, the secrecy provision section 125 of the Local Government Act 2020 replaced the secrecy provision from the Local Government Act 1989.

This new secrecy provision changes the way Councils process certain FOI requests because ‘confidential information’ protected by the new secrecy provision overlaps with exemptions under the FOI Act. This overlap includes personal affairs information and commercial information held by Councils.

This guidance explains how to deal with this overlap and process FOI applications to promote transparency required by both the Local Government Act 2020 and the Freedom of Information Act 1982.