Yorkshire council shamed for taking too long to provide information

The Halifax-based calderdale Council has been included on the list alongside the Metropolitan Police force, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence.

The Information Commissioner's Office 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."

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.

The number of complaints received, published data showing where less than 85% 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, the ICO said.