The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has taken action against four public authorities for continued failings to meet their obligations under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA).
City of London Police has been issued with an enforcement notice for its FoI failings, while Staffordshire Police, Dorset Police and Goldsmiths College, University of London have been given practice recommendations to better comply with their legal obligations under the FoIA.
The action against City of London Police began in April when the ICO noticed that its FoIA compliance statistics were missing from for its website. After a significant delay, the force responded that its average compliance rate in the financial year 2023-24 was 68%, which the ICO considers too low.
The force also had a large, rising backlog of older requests it had yet to respond to. From June 2023 to date, the ICO dealt with 12 complaints about timeliness issues.
City of London Police said the issues had been caused by staffing challenges at the same time as an increase in the number and complexity of FoI requests.
The enforcement notice orders the force to devise and publish an action plan in the next 30 days, which must detail how it will comply with their duties to respond to information requests in a timely manner. It has also been given six months to clear the existing backlog.
Increasing complaints
On Staffordshire Police, the ICO has seen an increase in complaints, with the greatest concerns being the backlog of old requests that remain open and that no action plan has been implemented to resolve this.
A practice recommendation has been issued to the force to support it in improving its information rights practices.
Dorset Police had been subject to an FoI audit by the ICO which identify concerns over its compliance. This was monitored over the next 12 months during which the performance remained poor, in terms of the time limit for complying with information requests and the time taken to complete internal reviews.
A practice recommendation has been issued to ensure there is transparency about the action being taken by drawing wider attention to the issue.
The action against Goldsmiths College derived from it writing to the ICO in August, explaining that due to various factors it was currently unable to meet its obligations to provide timely responses to people about their information rights request. The college had seen an increase in requests with many of those being more complex than usual, and as a result, a backlog of requests had built up.
The ICO has issued Goldsmiths with a practice recommendation to support the college’s plans to stabilise and improve its information rights practices.
Transparency and accountability
ICO head of FoI complaints and appeals, Phillip Angell, said: “People have the legal right to promptly receive information they’re entitled to. This right is important as transparency and accountability are fundamental to our democracy.
“As the regulator of the Freedom of Information Act, we support public authorities to be transparent and accountable about the decisions they make and the public money they spend. Where authorities let people down by failure to comply with the law on responding to information requests, we can and will take regulatory action so people’s rights are upheld.”
