The Scottish Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, launched her Annual Report on 1 October 2013. Speaking at the launch she expressed concern over an increasing failure on the part of Scottish public authorities to respond to freedom of information requests on time. Rosemary Agnew noted that when Scottish public authorities do not respond to FOI requests within the time limit they harm relationships with communities and create unnecessary work for themselves.
In broad terms the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 allows individuals to request and receive information which is held by or on behalf of Scottish public authorities. A response to a request for information must be made within 20 working days. Information may be withheld in certain circumstances.
The Annual Report shows that there was a 14% rise in appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner's Office in 2012/2013. Over a quarter of those appeals related to the failure by public authorities to respond to FOI requests.
The Annual Report coincides with new research carried out that shows that only 49% of the Scottish public are confident that they will receive a response to their FOI request within 20 working days and only 10% were "very confident" of a response within this timescale.
In connection with these findings Rosemary Agnew said: "These findings concern me. Eight years on from the introduction of FOI we would expect authorities to be more effective at handling requests, not less so. When they don't respond, authorities fail to respect people's legal rights to information: information which can be extremely important to individuals and communities."
"Scottish public authorities that are falling short should take steps to address their performance as an immediate priority. In doing so, they should also remember that failing to respond doesn't make requests go away, but just creates unnecessary extra work and increases costs. Failure to respond generates complaints, review requests, appeals to my office and damages a public authority's reputation. The most efficient option is to get it right first time."
The Scottish Information Commissioner has also announced that she is planning to issue a Special Report to the Scottish Parliament exploring public authorities' failures to respond to FOI requests in spring 2014.
The Annual Report of the Scottish Information Commissioner is available here.
MacRoberts' team of freedom of information experts can provide your organisation with guidance and training on how to comply with Scotland's FOI laws.
Disclaimer
The material contained in this article is of the nature of general comment only and does not give advice on any particular matter. Recipients should not act on the basis of the information in this e-update without taking appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.