Fall in freedom of information appeals breaks trend
Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner fell for the first time in five years in 2013-14, according to the Commissioner's annual report published today.
The fall, from 594 appeals in 2012-13 to 578 in 2013-14, appears to be due to fewer appeals being taken because authorities failed to respond to feedom of information requests within the 20 day statutory time limit.
On 7 August this year the Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, published a special report highlighting the extent and impact of the problem of authorities failing to respond to requests for information, which accounted for 27% of all valid apppeals in 2012-13. The latest figures show a fall to 24%, or 139 appeals in 2013-14.
At the same time enquiries to the Commissioner’s office have risen by 11% to just over 2,000, resulting in more help being given to requesters and authorities on using FOI more effectively.
Other findings from the latest report include:
- 62% of FOI appeals were from members of the public; 14% came from the media; and prisoners accounted for a further 8%.
- In 67% of her decisions, the Commissioner found wholly or partly in favour of the requester, requiring the release of information incorrectly withheld.
- Public awareness of FOI in Scotland is at 78%. The highest record level was 80%, in a 2011 poll.
- Scottish public authorities reported receiving over 60,000 FOI requests in 2013-14. The Commissioner began collecting this data from authorities for the first time.
- 75% of appeals took less than four months to resolve, meeting the Commissioner's target of responding to 75% of appeals within this timescale.
The report also reveals that the Commissioner's office is developing new resources to help public authorities respond better to requests at the outset. The first of these, which will focus on helping authorities respond in time, will be available from www.itspublicknowledge.info later this year.
Mrs Agnew commented: “It is encouraging to see that the number of appeals being made because of a failure to respond has fallen. It was also good news to discover that failing to respond is not widespread, but acute in only a small proportion of Scottish public authorities. There is clearly more work to be done to bring the poorer performing organisations up to the same standard as those doing well, but these early indications of improvement are encouraging.
“Everyone who makes an FOI request in Scotland should be confident that they will get a response within 20 working days. We know from our own experience that the information requested through FOI is often time-sensitive, concerning current issues. We see the information disclosed go on to be used in a variety of ways, supporting communities, informing debate and enhancing democratic engagement.
“Every public authority should ensure that it has the systems in place to respond promptly and accurately to every information request it receives.”