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How does the Freedom of Information Act affect confidential
information between Ofwat and the water companies?
From 1 January 2005 the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) comes fully into operation. We have a responsibility under the FOIA to provide information in response to any written request, normally within 20 working days. Although we hope to be able to respond positively to most requests for information, the FOIA provides a number of absolute and public interest exemptions and we will apply these as appropriate to protect the public interest. Currently some information supplied by the water companies to us is marked commercial in confidence. However, the fact that a document is marked commercial in confidence does not give an automatic exemption against disclosure. Where we receive a request for information provided by a water company that is not currently in the public domain we will write to the water company concerned before releasing any information they have provided to us. Water companies can take measures to prevent release if they do not agree that it can be shared publicly.
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