• all government departments and most of their agencies;
• local authorities;
• NHS hospitals and other NHS health-care providers, health trusts and authorities;
• police services and authorities;
• the houses of commons and lords, the Scottish parliament, the Northern Ireland assembly and the Welsh assembly;
• all state-owned companies, ie those wholly owned by the crown or public bodies;
• more than 115,000 public bodies in total, ranging from the arts council, bank of England, BBC, channel four, commission for racial equality, English nature, tourist boards, equal opportunities commission, housing action trusts, local probation boards, low pay commission, meat and livestock commission, national crime squad, national lottery commission, political honours scrutiny committee, post office, regional development agencies, senior salaries review body, sports councils, V&A museum, to maintained schools and other educational institutions.

Some public bodies, eg the bank of England and the BBC, have extra exemptions. Others are absent from the list, including: the security service (MI5); the secret intelligence service (MI6); the signals intelligence agency, GCHQ; special forces; and the national criminal intelligence service.

And “freedom of information” applies widely around the world...

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