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The purpose of this paper is to consider what the impact of the first six months of the Freedom of Information Act has been on archives and records management services in UK public services. The UK Freedom of Information Act was passed in 2000 and came into full operation on 1 January 2005. It gives people, regardless of nationality, a right to be told whether public bodies hold information and to be provided with that information. Similar legislation exists in over 50 countries including the USA, Canada, Australia and Ireland.

The project undertook interviews with four case study organisations: University College London, the Metropolitan Police, Peterborough City Council and Soham Village College. Using the Department for Constitutional Affairs Model Action Plan, the researchers examined leadership and policy, training and awareness, information and records management, customers and stakeholders and systems and procedures.

The research showed that the four case study organisations coped well with the requests they received in the first six months of 2005. However, the systems would not have been robust enough had request levels been higher.

Archives and records management services are a key part of FOI and should take an active role in research to establish best practice.

Aims to explore ways in which records support the mandate and activities of public sector bodies in the UK, in particular compliance with legislation, including the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Focusing on high profile public enquiries as a trigger for examining the value of records in answering questions of public interest, the article goes on to report on recent research into FOI and records and to comment on the broad legislative and regulatory framework for records management.

The article concludes that records are an essential element in the accountability of government, in the maintenance of transparent democracies, in the provision of access by citizens to information and in the effective formulation and execution of policies.

Brings together thinking about the organizational value of records in theoretical terms with specific high profile examples of public enquiries and recent legislation.

University College London (UCL) ran a research project over 12 months in 2008‐2009, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, which examined what the impact of the UK Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 had been on records management services in local government. This paper aims to report on some of the findings of the study, with a focus on the practical records management issues.

The research considered the three perspectives of records managers: institutional FOI; policy managers; and FOI requestors and user communities. Following an extensive literature review, qualitative research methods were used to gather data, specifically semi‐structured interviewing of 27 individuals from 19 different institutions in London and the South East of England and with 11 requestors.

The findings reported in this paper focus on records services in local government, in particular their organisational location and status, and aspects of the management of current and non‐current records, including those in digital formats.

This paper is one of the outputs of a grant‐funded project, which documents the results of research in FOI from a records management perspective and makes a contribution to the wider debate about access to information. It attempts to survey user responses, which has been an overlooked aspect of other FOI and records management research.

There are some implications for good practice in records management policy and systems and in the location of records functions in local government.

Local government is an under‐researched field in respect of information management and FOI, when compared with other parts of the public sector, and this is therefore a significant contribution to knowledge in this field.

This research paper aims to consider the use of the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) as a resource providing access to otherwise unavailable data from the UK Police forces. Not seeking to be a critical examination of Police practice, it offers insight to many aspects of records management appertaining to the police service provision of recorded crime. Authors consider whether record management is sufficiently integrated into police practice, given the transparency called for by the FOIA, contemporary societal needs and the growing requirement to provide high value evidence led assessments of activity both within and external to the service.

FOIA was utilised to collect data from all police forces in England and Wales through multiple requests. Carried out over a 15-month period, three requests were collated and responses compared, allowing for examination of compliance with the legislation and reflections on the manner in which records were sought and ultimately disseminated.

Generally, responding to FOIA requests was well managed by English Police Forces. Methods of data management and collection practice were exposed which the authors suggest pose questions on the strength of records management consideration that may be worthy of further work. Configuration management of records is highlighted as an essential function given the disparity of data releases experienced.

This research highlights the FOIA as a valuable methodological tool for academic researchers, but it is limited in respect of seeking firm contextual explanation of the Police internal procedures to answer requests. By making common requests over a long time period to the same Police forces, it provides a clear study of FOIA processes and raises potentially significant questions for records management consideration.

Findings provide advice on developing use of the FOIA as an academic methodological resource and reflect on the findings impact on internal police use of data and information records.

This paper allows for reflection on the importance of high-value records management in the day-to-day business of the police service and questions whether such knowledge areas are suitably considered. Covering an area of little previous academic enquiry, the research informs criminal justice practitioners of areas for potential further discussion and academic researchers on the validity of using the FOIA as a valuable information source.