Council told to sharpen its act in responding to Freedom of Information requests
Trafford Council has been told to raise its game in responding to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) placing the authority on its monitoring list.
It said that Trafford has failed in a number of cases to meet the requirement to respond to a request within the statutory time limit of 20 working days.
The council joins the Metropolitan Police Service on the list, and the ICO will examine the performance of both for requests made between 1 May and 31 July. If they do not improve they could be subject to enforcement action.
Gerrard Tracey, principal policy adviser at the ICO, said: “The law sets limits on how quickly public authorities must respond. Trafford Council has not been meeting that requirement, and we’ll now be reviewing its performance.
“Similarly, the Metropolitan Police Service will continue to be looked at. They have implemented initiatives and measures to improve performance, but a growing volume of requests means that work hasn’t had enough of an impact on compliance with the law. We will continue to monitor them to ensure the necessary improvements are achieved.”
In contrast, the ICO said the Ministry of Justice and Northern Ireland’s Department of Finance and Personnel, which have both been under review, have now been taken off the monitoring list after sustained improvements.
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