Four councils give undertakings to speed up FOI response times

Four councils have given undertakings to the Information Commissioner’s Office committing them to speeding up the time it takes to respond to freedom of information requests.

The four authorities are: Kent County Council; Cornwall Council; Nottingham City Council; and North Somerset Council. The Welsh Government and East Lancashire NHS Trust have also given undertakings.

The six public bodies were among 18 authorities to be monitored as part of the watchdog’s most recent monitoring exercise, which took place between 1 April and 30 June 2011.

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, warned that they risked enforcement action if they failed to improve.

The other 12 organisations have speeded up their response times sufficiently to avoid further action.

The ICO meanwhile praised the performance of two Government departments that gave undertakings in June 2011.

The Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office both now answer more than 85% of information requests within the time limit of 20 working days.

The ICO said the departments were also tackling outstanding requests where responses had been unduly delayed.

Graham said: “Responding promptly to freedom of information requests is important for maintaining public confidence and achieving greater transparency.

“While both the MoD and the Cabinet Office have put a good deal of effort into making significant improvements to their FOI handling processes, it is vital that these improvements are sustained.”

The ICO said it would shortly be announcing a new list of public authorities to be monitored over their response times.