Usage of the FOI Act bears out its important role in public life today. Since April 1998 tens of thousands of requests have been made to public bodies, of which the large majority have been granted in full or in part. However, the success of FOI cannot be judged solely by such statistics. It was anticipated before FOI was introduced that it would serve to encourage the release, on an informal administrative basis, of information which would previously not have been readily available. A recent example of this can be seen in the move by universities and other third level education institutions to release students' examination scripts without requiring students to invoke the Act formally. A further example is available from the health boards, where, I understand, some three quarters of requests for personal records are dealt with informally, with requesters not being required to go through the formal FOI process.