List of shame on information data

MORE than 30 public bodies, including Calderdale Council, the Home Office, Ministry of Defence and the Metropolitan Police, were yesterday named and shamed on a list of organisations that appear to be flouting freedom of information rules.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said the organisations appeared to be taking too long to respond to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act and would now be monitored for three months.

The ICO's deputy commissioner, Graham Smith, said: "This is a perfect opportunity for the authorities named to get their houses in order and demonstrate that they take freedom of information requests seriously."

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He went on: "In the five years since the Freedom of Information Act was brought into force, a significant number of the complaints we receive are about organisations that take too long to respond to information requests.

"We will monitor the authorities named today for three months, but may take action during this timeframe if an authority's standard of compliance is revealed to be particularly poor, or if it is unwilling to make the improvements necessary."

The Cabinet Office, the British Transport Police, the Department for Work and Pensions, Transport for London and The Scotland Office were also on the list. Calderdale Council is the only Yorkshire authority on the list.

The ICO said the number of complaints received, published data showing where less than 85 per cent of requests had received a response within appropriate timescales, and occasions where authorities had exceeded time limits by a significant margin were all considered when compiling the list.

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On its website, the ICO said: "We intend to target our monitoring activity towards those authorities which repeatedly or seriously fail to respond to freedom of information requests within the appropriate timescales.

"Monitoring may be a precursor to further action if an authority is unable to demonstrate an improvement within a specified timescale."

It is understood each of the 33 organisations will now be asked to keep a record of everything they do in relation to FoI requests and provide monthly updates to the ICO.

Any complaints made about the organisations during the monitoring period will also be considered by the ICO.

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Ian Hughes, Head of Democratic and Partnership Services at Calderdale Council said: "Calderdale Council has dealt with over 1900 Freedom of Information requests since the Act came in to force in 2005.

"Ninety eight per cent of these were responded to within 20 working days. We welcome this opportunity to demonstrate our capacity to comply with the legislation, and the organisation's commitment to transparency."

A Home Office spokeswoman said it took its obligations under the Act seriously."We recognise that there are still improvements to be made and will continue to work towards this," she said. Adding that the Home Office receives one of the highest volumes of FoI requests for all Government departments.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We take great care to prove detailed and accurate FoI responses to the large volume of serious and complex requests we receive.

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"This sometimes means that our responses are not made within the agreed timeframe.

"The department recognises the importance of timelines and we are examining ways to further improve our performance."

The Met Police (MPS) said 84 per cent of the 3,373 FoI requests it received in the 2009/10 financial year were completed within 20 working days.

The force spokesman said it aimed to respond to FoI requests within the required timeframe.

He added: "In a large and complex organisation like the MPS, which employs in the region of 55,000 people, retrieving required data can be hugely challenging."