Ministry of Justice to be monitored over delays in responding to FOI requests

The Government department with overall responsibility for freedom of information policy is itself being monitored by the Information Commissioner’s Office amid concerns over the timeliness of its responses to FOI requests.

The ICO announced today that it would be reviewing the performance of the MoJ in relation to FOI requests received between 1 September 2015 and 30 November 2015.

“This is due to delays being identified in a significant number of cases where the statutory time limit of 20 working days was exceeded,” the watchdog said.

The latest MOJ quarterly FOI statistics have indicated that they are well below 85% which is one of the triggers for formal monitoring to be considered by the ICO.

The watchdog has reported that four councils – Greenwich, Cumbria, Nottingham and Salford – have now been taken off formal monitoring following improvements in their performance.

However, the ICO continues to monitor the Metropolitan Police Service and the Department of Finance and Personnel (Northern Ireland).

Graham Smith, the ICO’s Deputy Commissioner and Director of Freedom of Information, said: “Transparency is a cornerstone of a modern democracy and public authorities must respect people’s rights of access to information. That means responding to FOI requests within the statutory timeline of 20 working days, or with a short permitted extension where weighing up the public interest is particularly complex.

“We hope the Ministry of Justice uses this monitoring period to bring about significant improvements in this aspect of its service to the public. Statutory time limits are not optional. The improvements we’ve seen at the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Cumbria County, Nottingham City and Salford City Council are very welcome and I hope these service levels will be maintained.”