ECSH151000 - Freedom of Information: Guidance with links
The HMRC Freedom of Information (FOI) team in central policy manages departmental policy, guidance and compliance with Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
Further
information can be found at Freedom of Information (sharepoint.com)
All FOI
requests relating to Economic Crime-Supervision (EC-S) are
received and dealt with by the Cross Cutting Policy Team (CCPT).
The team will collate data across
EC-S and wider Economic Crime teams, if required,
in response to the FOI request within the stipulated
timeframe. CCPT also works collaboratively with other teams across EC-S,
providing support for FOI responses. Some FOI responses require an
accompanying press brief, the central
complaints team will advise when this is required.
HMRC is only required to provide recorded information that it holds at the time a request is received.
There is no requirement to:
Create new information
Provide analysis that has not been recorded
Answer questions based solely on an individual's knowledge, recollection or opinion.
Where information is already publicly available, provide a reference to the published source rather than reproducing it. This includes information published on GOV.UK or in other publicly available documents. This is consistent with section 21 of the FOIA.
Any additional contextual information provided voluntarily should be clearly identified as discretionary and outside HMRC's obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. This avoids creating expectations for future requests.
How to handle an FOI request is explained in the relevant Standard Work Instruction in the Team SWI Folder Knowledge Library Policy Guidance section.