UK ICO: public bodies must comply!
Source: Information Commissioners Office (ICO), UK
UK ICO takes tougher approach to FOI enforcement
Wilmslow: 21 July 2010
The UK Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has published a press release titled: ICO takes tougher approach to FOI enforcement.
The press release states:
“Today the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) sets out the measures that public authorities will face if they routinely fail to meet the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). Organisations will face action from the ICO if they regularly fail to issue a response on time, refuse to disclose information without specifying an exemption, or if they fail to respond to a request altogether. The tougher approach to enforcing the Freedom of Information Act will ensure individuals get speedier responses from public bodies.
Mick Gorrill, Head of Enforcement at the ICO, said: “Organisations that take FOIA seriously will have advice and support from the ICO. The public bodies that continually fail to meet their legal obligations will face regulatory action. Using FOIA can take too long and is sometimes overly cumbersome for members of the public. After monitoring authorities’ compliance with the Act, we will take action against those that abuse the system.”
The ICO will be making more use of regulatory powers including Enforcement Notices, Undertakings and Practice Recommendations to improve compliance. Where there is evidence that a public authority is regularly or seriously failing to meet its obligations, the ICO will not hesitate to take regulatory action, particularly where organisations fail to respond to requests in a timely manner. The ICO has identified timeliness as a key target for action, in recognition that a quarter (between 20–25%) of FOIA complaints to the ICO relate, at least in part, to the time taken for public bodies to respond to requests.
Graham Smith, Deputy Commissioner, said: “The Freedom of Information Act is a success story and has helped many organisations become far more transparent. Information rights have never been so important and organisations must have transparency at the heart of their culture. Although most organisations are implementing FOIA effectively, we will apply robust and effective sanctions against those organisations which routinely fail to comply with the Act.”