freedom of information.co.uk

November 15th 2005

England’s local councils granted over 90 per cent of information requests during the first six months of the Freedom of Information Act, according to survey published this week. 

Between January and June 2005 district councils received on average around 50 requests, and larger authorities (such as county, metropolitan, and unitary councils) around 150.  Around 60 per cent came from private individuals, 20 per cent from business and 10 per cent from the media. 

The survey of 200 of England’s 387 local authorities was carried out by University College London’s Constitution Unit on behalf of the Improvement and Development Agency, which promotes good practice in local government.

The study found that only around 8 per cent of information requests were refused, and, of those, only around a third were subject to internal reviews due to requester dissatisfaction. The monthly volume of requests declined over the six months, but the complexity of requests tended to increase.

District councils took an average of 12 staff hours to answer requests and larger councils 14.  A few complex requests, most of which were from local pressure groups and journalists, took considerably longer to process. 

Applying the Act’s exemptions – in particular those requiring application of the public interest test - was among the greatest challenges reported by the councils.  Other common problems included distinguishing between FOI and EIR regimes; persuading colleagues to comply with timescales; and using request tracking systems.

A half of councils have only one full-time equivalent member of staff working on FOI and only 15 per cent have more than five. FOI officers frequently combine their role with responsibility for data protection and records management.  Some FOI departments did not have their own budget and their staff were allocated on a temporary basis.  Despite these resourcing problems, two thirds of councils did not charge applicants for answering information requests and, among those that did, charges were mainly for copying and postage.

In addition to their practical concerns, many officials were unhappy about the use of FOI by business.  However, they reported a number of benefits of FOI implementation, including better records management, better engagement with the public and the media, and identifying problems in service delivery. Many also reported that FOI had also helped to increase interdepartmental co-operation and communication.

The Act, which came in to force on January 1st this year, allows the public access to information held by over 100,000 public bodies.