# Freedom of Information Act 2000, Section 81: Application to government departments, etc.

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) For the purposes of this Act each government department is to be treated as a person separate from any other government department.
(2) Subsection (1) does not enable—
(a) a government department which is not a Northern Ireland department to claim for the purposes of section 41(1)(b) that the disclosure of any information by it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by any other government department (not being a Northern Ireland department), or
(b) a Northern Ireland department to claim for those purposes that the disclosure of information by it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by any other Northern Ireland department.
(3) A government department or the Welsh Assembly Government is not liable to prosecution under this Act, but section 77 and paragraph 12 of Schedule 3 apply to a person in the public service of the Crown as they apply to any other person.
(4) The provisions specified in subsection (3) also apply to a person acting on behalf of either House of Parliament or on behalf of the Northern Ireland Assembly or the National Assembly for Wales as they apply to any other person.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/81 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/freedom-of-information-act-2000/section-81
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.