Guidance

Make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to DSIT

How to make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Use this service to request information from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000. You can also use this form to request environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. You do not need to tell us which law or regulation you are making your request under.

If you would like to request personal information about yourself, or about another living person with their permission, please submit a subject access request instead.

For general enquiries where you are not requesting recorded information from the department, please email correspondence@dsit.gov.uk.

Check previous FOI releases from DSIT

Before you submit a request, check our previous releases to see whether we have already answered your question.

Start your FOI request

You will need to provide us with: 

  • Your name and email address 
  • Your contact address (if you don’t have an email address)
  • Details of the information that you are requesting

We will respond to your request within 20 working days (excluding weekends and UK bank holidays) and will contact you directly if we need to clarify your request.

The form will take about five minutes to complete.

Start now

Our privacy notice explains how we will process any personal information which you share with us. 

Other ways to contact us

If you would prefer, you can also contact us by email or by post at:  

FOI-requests@dsit.gov.uk

DSIT Information Rights Team
100 Parliament Street 
Westminster
London
SW1A 2BQ

What information you can request from us 

You have the right to request recorded information which we hold. This includes electronic or paper copies of formal documents, like policies or minutes of meetings. You can also request information held in other kinds of records like emails, photographs or audio recordings. 

The laws that give you this right of access are:  

If you ask for information, we must provide it unless we have a good reason not to. We can refuse your request if it is vexatious, repeated or if it would cost too much to comply. We may also apply an ‘exemption’ under the FOIA or an ‘exception’ under the EIR to refuse, or partially refuse to disclose information. 

If you want to request a copy of your own personal information, make a subject access request instead.

Published 1 July 2024