The Freedom of Information Act came into effect in Britain on January 1, 2005, and since then more than 400,000 requests have been filed under the legislation.

The law is similar to the Public Access to Information Act being introduced in Bermuda today in that it provides a basic right of access to official information, subject to a set of exemptions.

Many of the newspaper reports that followed the launch of the Act have been made into documentaries, dominated the news agenda and wiped out consecutive front pages.

Here are some of the stories the Act shed light on:

• The disclosure of British MPs expenses stemmed from an FOI request made by The Daily Telegraph in 2005, with the story going on to dominate the news agenda for months.

Claims for expenses by MPs included replacement light bulbs, moat cleaning services and pornographic videos.

The Daily Telegraph was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2010 British Press Awards for its coverage of the story.

• In 2006, inspectors found cracks in the reactor cores of nuclear power stations, posing severe risks to public safety.

• Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Charles, the Prince of Wales, were found to have received $1 million worth of EU farming subsidies over a two-year period.

• The now-defunct News of the World revealed in 2007 that alcoholism could be given as a reason for claiming incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance, and other benefit payments, such as housing support and child-related benefits.

• The Freedom of Information Act was used in April 2012 to help to expose racism within Scotland Yard (Metropolitan Police Service). Channel 4 News revealed that between 2002 and 2012, 120 officers within the force were found guilty of racist behaviour in the previous ten years.

• In March 2015, two investigative reporters from The Sunday Times used the Freedom of Information Act to reveal that hospitals were incinerating miscarried and aborted foetuses as clinical waste.

• That year, the same pair also found out that police officers in Britain were using 50,000-volt Taser stun guns on children, including a 12-year-old girl who was mentally ill.