Yes it does, but not until this century a law was passed which entitles people to demand information held by public bodies and it is not completely free: people have to pay to get  the information they want and sometimes information is not disclosed because that would not be in the public interest. Also there is a '30-year rule' which restricts access to government papers for 30 years and the Official Secrets Act obliges government employees to keep the details of their work secret.