ICO to take "tougher line" with public bodies that drag out FOI disputes

The Information Commissioner’s Office is to take a tougher line with public bodies involved in freedom of information disputes when it comes to demanding access to the relevant information and the organisation’s arguments up front as to why it should be withheld, the  Deputy Information Commissioner told delegates at the SLG Weekend School in York.

Graham Smith said: “The days of lengthy correspondence – growing and growing and going backwards and forwards over months – are over. We will be expecting things pretty much to be right first time.

“Although this doesn’t apply quite as much to local authorities as to central government departments, we are certainly on the case of those who are just dragging out the whole complaints process because as time goes on the information gets less and less sensitive.”

The ICO will be using information notices much more where either the information or the arguments for withholding are not delivered upfront, “so we will get to that position much more quickly”, Smith said.

He added that the ICO will continue to use informal resolution to try and close complaints where it can. “We see that that is good practice and time well invested. Certainly from the local authority’s perspective, that is your opportunity to put things right for the citizen and hopefully get to a win-win situation if you can, rather than have to wait for a formal ruling from us.”

The Deputy Information Commissioner pointed out that the ICO had significantly reduced its backlog of cases against the backdrop of an increasing appetite for information.

Smith said: “This is partly due to a new direction but it’s primarily because we have been doing this job for five years and we all have a better idea as to what it is about. That goes as much if not more for people in public authorities as it does for ourselves.”

In 2009 the ICO closed almost 4,000 cases compared to around 3,000 the year before. However, the office has also seen a 20% increase in complaints year on year.