The Campaign for Freedom of Information has analysed the appalling delays experienced by the majority of people who have had to resort to making a Complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office, regarding their Freedom of Information Act requests.
"Severe delays" in investigating freedom of information complaints "undermining" FOI Act
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The report analyses nearly 500 formal decision notices issued by the ICO in the 18 months to 31 March 2009. The decisions were made under the FOI Act and the associated Environmental Information Regulations. It finds that -
- on average it took 19.7 months from the date of a complaint to the ICO to the date on which the ICO's decision on the complaint was issued
- in 46% of cases it took between 1 and 2 years from complaint to decision
- a quarter of formal decisions took between 2 and 3 years while 5% of cases (23 complaints) took more than 3 years
- the longest case took 3 years and 10 and a half months
- only 24% of decisions were issued within 12 months of the complaint.
The report also found that on average the ICO's investigation into a complaint did not begin until 8 months after the complaint had been received. In 28% of cases, there was a delay of more than a year before the investigation began and 19 cases waited more than 18 months. One complaint had been with the ICO for 22 months before the investigation began.
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According to the report's authors, Maurice Frankel and Katherine Gundersen: "A delay of 2 to 3 years or more in reaching a decision, as happens in over a quarter of cases means that even if the information is ultimately disclosed it may no longer be of interest or use to the requester. Requesters who experience such delays may be so frustrated by the experience that they become reluctant to use the Act again or to complain to the ICO about refusals. Delays may also mean that authorities carry on repeating mistakes over long periods, affecting many requests, before the ICO puts them right. Finally, if authorities calculate that they can safely withhold information for several years before the Commissioner compels disclosure, a minority may do so deliberately, just to 'buy time'."
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ICO response to report by the Campaign for Freedom of Information
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Whilst only 10% of complaints result in a Decision Notice, these cases take longer to resolve than we would like
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Despite the improvements already made with additional funding from the Ministry of
Justice, the popularity of FOI means that the number of complaints we are receiving is
outstripping forecasts
Our experience with the long, frustrating delays regarding the bureaucratic Freedom of Information Act process, is not made any less unacceptable, because other people seem to be suffering the same.
The ICO should not be allowed to refuse a Complaint, if a public body has exceeded the 20 working days or "no more than 40 working days" reasonable suggested time limit for Internal Reviews. At the very least they should officially remind the public body of this limit, and criticise any further delays, as deliberate flouting of the spirit of the FOIA when the ICO finally does issue a Decision Notice.
The Ministry of Justice also needs to provide sufficient monetary resources to allow the ICO to clear its backlog of FOIA complaints, by hiring its own, independent staff,rather than by embedding Whitehall civil servants "on secondment".
I made a request under the freedom of information act having seen first hand that our police are turning a blind eye to serial fraudsters on eBay selling hundreds of cars using multiple eBay accounts from around the Birmingham area and despite being presented with overwhelming evidence the police would not investigate, would only reply to registered letters and yes I tried the so called Independent Police Complaints Comity (IPCC) only to find they were as helpful as a chocolate tea pot and are quite happy to except standard replies from the police that could be sent out to anyone complaining about everything from police brutality to inaction by the police.
Since the Police palmed my case off to the trading standards (as documented at www.ebuster.co.uk) I will also warn that the Birmingham trading standards like to play you along for three months saying they are waiting for information from eBay and then finally when it does arrive with no reliable contact details the trading standards turn around and say it’s your job to provide the contact details which is not so easy with professional fraudsters hence my insistence the police needed to be involved all along.
Anyway having read about the merry relationship eBay has with the police and coming across reports much like mine I soon discovered that eBay was providing so called special training to our police which knowing eBays reputation worldwide is a bit like the Mafia proving our police with gun control training so I tried to gain more specific information under the freedom of information act that was not specific to eBay but cyber crime in general only to receive a two page letter months later detailing why this information was not available with the excuse that crime statistics were only held at local level.
This of course is incorrect as where else would the national crime statistics come from so be warned if you happen to have dealings with eBay then you had better be ready to take on eBay, Police, IPCC, Trading standards and department of justice who all seem to have a soft spot for eBay.
I keep reading that it’s simple to make a request under the freedom of information act but how do you go about ensuring the authorities respond to that request without having to endure being played around by the likes of the IPCC who are all controlled by the same hidden hand or is it at that stage were we should just throw in the towel and hope someone else takes up the battle.
Bottom line as I see it is we have high taxes and no accountability which is a bi-product of the corruption that is consuming today’s society so all I can do is make sure I don’t drive with bold tyres or resist arrest
I admit, I have not been on this webpage in a long time... however it was another joy to see It is such an important topic and ignored by so many, even professionals. I thank you to help making people more aware of possible issues.Great stuff as usual.