The Freedom of Information Act 2000 received Royal Assent on 30 November 2000 and came into full effect on 1 January 2005. The Act gave the public, for the first time, a statutory right (subject to appropriate limitations) to i) find out if a public authority held specified information and, ii) if so, to be provided with access to it. This Memorandum revisits the original objectives and evaluates whether those have been met. It is felt that the FIOA has become embedded in the culture of public authorities and its effects on openness and transparency are clear. The successes do not come without cost, however, primarily in the form of concern at the time taken to process and respond to FOI requests, to conduct public interest tests and consider exemptions. The extent though to which original decisions are neither complained against, or are upheld on complaint, indicate that the FOIA is working largely as it should