Official Information Act 1982, s 12; Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, s 10
You make your request directly to the relevant government agency, either verbally or in writing. It’s usually best to put your request in writing, and you should keep a copy of your letter. If you made a verbal request, make a note of the date and the person you spoke to. An email is a good way to request official information, because it creates a dated record of your request and it’s easy to keep a copy.
You should be as specific as possible about the information you want.
You don’t have to refer to the name of any particular Act when you ask for the information – you don’t have to say for example, “I’m making this request under the Official Information Act”.
The agency must help you make the request in the proper way – if, for example, you haven’t given enough detail about the information you want or if the information you want is held by a different agency.
Note: Central government agencies usually refer to requests for official information as “OIA requests” for short.