ICO puts council, police force and Home Office on FOI monitoring list

The Information Commissioner’s Office is to monitor South Tyneside Council, Sussex Police and the Home Office amid concerns over the timeliness of their responses to freedom of information (FOI) requests.

Details: 09.Aug.2013

The ICO said the monitoring period, which will run from 1 July to 30 September 2013, followed either a significant number of complaints or a smaller number of complaints involving significant delays that extended well beyond the statutory limit of 20 working days for responses.

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, said: “The government has made a clear commitment towards making the UK’s public sector one of the most transparent in the world. Responding to FOI requests within the time limit of 20 working days is an important means of achieving this objective.

“We hope that these authorities can make the improvements the public has a right to expect. We should not have to order authorities to respond to requests in time.”

The ICO has meanwhile required Wirral Borough Council, which was monitored between 1 January and 31 March 2013, to sign an undertaking.

The watchdog said the local authority had shown some improvements, but was still responding to less than 75% of requests within 20 working days.

The ICO said it was satisfied that the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education – monitored at the same time as Wirral – had taken sufficient action to ensure their backlogs were addressed.

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The watchdog nevertheless expressed concern at the performance of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland.

The ICO criticised in particular a failure to respond to a number of outstanding requests which involved substantial delays. One request remained unanswered more than 500 working days after it was received.

“A decision will now be made about what further action is required in this case,” the ICO said.