Part I Access to information held by public authorities

Right to information

6 Publicly-owned companies.

1

A company is a “publicly-owned company” for the purposes of section 3(1)(b) if—

a

it is wholly owned by the Crown, F1...

b

it is wholly owned by F5the wider public sectorF3, or

c

it is wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector.

F22

For the purposes of this section—

a

a company is wholly owned by the Crown if, and only if, every member is a person falling within sub-paragraph (i) or (ii)—

i

a Minister of the Crown, government department or company wholly owned by the Crown, or

ii

a person acting on behalf of a Minister of the Crown, government department or company wholly owned by the Crown,

b

a company is wholly owned by the wider public sector if, and only if, every member is a person falling within sub-paragraph (i) or (ii)—

i

a relevant public authority or a company wholly owned by the wider public sector, or

ii

a person acting on behalf of a relevant public authority or of a company wholly owned by the wider public sector, and

c

a company is wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector if, and only if, condition A, B or C is met.

2A

In subsection (2)(c)—

a

condition A is met if—

i

at least one member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii),

ii

at least one member is a person falling within subsection (2)(b)(i) or (ii), and

iii

every member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii) or (b)(i) or (ii),

b

condition B is met if—

i

at least one member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii) or (b)(i) or (ii),

ii

at least one member is a company wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector, and

iii

every member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii) or (b)(i) or (ii) or a company wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector, and

c

condition C is met if every member is a company wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector.

3

In this section—

  • “company” includes any body corporate;

  • “Minister of the Crown” includes a Northern Ireland Minister.

  • F4 “ relevant public authority ” means any public authority listed in Schedule 1 other than—

    a government department, or

    any authority which is listed only in relation to particular information