Police force's FOI responses 'woeful' - watchdog

The force said it would tackle the backlog of requests "as a priority"

South Yorkshire Police has "let people down" with its failure to adequately respond to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, a regulator has said.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said the force had "woefully" fallen short of meeting its legal requirements.

The force had a backlog of nearly 400 unanswered requests, which it has been told to clear by the end of August this year.

South Yorkshire Police said it was sorry for the delays and it was hiring more staff to reduce the delays.

FOI requests are typically submitted to public bodies by journalists, campaigners and members of the public to obtain certain types of information.

Legally, organisations have to respond with the information within 20 working days, provided certain exemptions do not apply.

The commissioner said the force's compliance rate for most of last year was less than 18%, which it described as "unacceptable on any level".

Warren Seddon, the ICO's director of freedom of information and transparency said South Yorkshire Police had "let people down" with its "woeful failure to comply with the law on responding to information requests".

He added: "Transparency is fundamental to our democracy. Information delayed is information denied, and people have the legal right to promptly receive information they're entitled to."

South Yorkshire Police said it "sincerely apologised" and said it was hiring more staff in an effort to clear the backlog.

It added: "The force’s information rights team has experienced an unprecedented reduction in staffing levels over the last 12 months, alongside an increase in the volume of requests we have received.

"This has unfortunately resulted in long delays responding to requests and created a backlog of outstanding requests.

"We are treating this matter as a priority and understand how frustrating these delays will be for those seeking information."

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