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Out of the frying pan, into the FOIA: government departments and Freedom of Information requests, Q2 2016

How did government departments respond to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests between April and June 2016?

How did government departments respond to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests between April and June 2016? And what could the appointment of a new Information Commissioner mean for them? Gavin Freeguard looks at the new data.

FoI requests are a key tool for members of the public, politicians, and the press to hold Government departments to account. How departments respond to them is a good indicator of their administrative competence and openness.

MoJ received the most FoI requests, closely followed by MoD.

Government received a total of 11,037 requests between April and June 2016. Both MoJ (1,105) and MoD (1,085) received more than 1,000 requests in the last quarter. Only four other departments – DWP (901), HO (882), HMRC (526), and DfT (517) – received more than 500 requests.

MoJ, MoD, DWP and HO have consistently received the most requests since Q3 2010. In recent quarters, DWP has slipped from first to third. The MoD has received more requests in each of the last two quarters than in any previous ones.

While DH responded to nearly all of its requests in time, BIS answered only 65%.

Departments are supposed to respond to requests within 20 working days (except where they have a permitted extension). DH and DCLG did so in 99% or more of cases. For a second quarter in a row, the Scotland Office (only 77% of requests responded to in time) and BIS (65% in time) were the worst performing departments. This continues the Scotland Office’s record of being poor in responding to all types of information request, including ministerial correspondence and parliamentary questions.

Government bodies are subject to special monitoring if they respond to under 85% of requests on time – DWP, the Scotland Office and BIS fell under this threshold in Q2 2016. Looking at all government organisations, the Royal Mint also fell under it, with only 43% of requests answered in time).

The new Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has suggested that the threshold might not be tough enough: "I'm going to be looking at that threshold. Looking at this from the outside, most of the public would have the view that more than one in 10 not getting a timely response to a request is not a sign of success."

This would be welcome, forcing departments to improve their timeliness. If we apply that more stringent threshold, then an additional seven departments – HMRC, DCMS, DfE, HMT, HO, DECC and the Cabinet Office (which is responsible for monitoring government FoI performance) – and three other organisations (the National Archives, National Savings and Investments, and the Charity Commission) fall short, and would be subject to monitoring.

Five departments – HMRC, CO, DH, MoJ and HMT – withheld all information in response to half or more of their requests.

For a second successive quarter, HMRC, CO, DH, MoJ and HMT are the top five withholding departments.

Departments can apply a number of exemptions. HMRC, for example, is prohibited from disclosing a lot of information and used that exemption more than any other.

For the first time, the Cabinet Office used the ‘commercial interests’ exemption more than any other (33 times) exemption, followed by ‘formulation of government policy’ (the usual high-scorer, 18 times).

This is the last release not to include the new government departments created when Theresa May formed her government – International Trade (DIT), Exiting the European Union (DExEU) and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Those new departments are already receiving other requests for information, such as parliamentary questions, and they’ll need to find their feet quickly – especially BEIS, where DECC and BIS are already among the worst performing departments for timeliness.

Publisher
Institute for Government

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