The Constitution Unit, based in the Department of Political Science at University College London, has been awarded a research grant jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Ministry of Justice to evaluate the impact of the UK's Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 on central government.

FOI is intended to make government transparent, accountable, participatory, effective and responsive to its citizens - we ask, has it worked?

The findings from this study will help to clarify the costs and benefits of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000, especially as they relate to government transparency and accountability, public understanding, public participation in politics, and the quality of government decision-making.

We would be grateful if you could complete the questionnaire in its entirety. Your participation is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions about the survey please contact Ben Worthy via email at b.worthy@ucl.ac.uk or by calling 020 7679 4974.

Anonymity and Privacy

All questions are entirely voluntary and your answers will be anonymised in the analysis and publication stages. If you elect to provide your contact details at the end of the survey, your personal data will be used only for the purposes of academic research and will not be passed to any other organisation. The Constitution Unit will use the responses to the survey for statistical analysis purposes and to publish aggregated and anonymised results of the survey.

University College London is registered under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 and has a legal obligation to ensure that confidentiality of your personal information is maintained. You can learn more about UCL's data protection policy here. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to request a copy of the data held about you by University College London for a small fee. If you have any concerns about the use of data for these purposes or would like a copy of the data supplied to us, please contact University College London, or write to the Data Protection Officer, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.