Shropshire Council's transparency 'failure' over FOI responses

Shropshire Council has been criticised over a backlog of unanswered FOI requests

A council has come under scrutiny for its "poor" handling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, with a backlog of unanswered public queries labelled a transparency failure.

Shropshire Council has been issued with an enforcement notice commanding it to respond to outstanding requests and prevent future delays.

It follows a probe by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

The council said it had already made improvements to its FOI processes.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows the public access to information held by public authorities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, plus UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland.

The council had said previously it planned to clear a backlog of FOI requests by the end of March. However, by the end of April, there were still 143 unanswered requests.

The oldest unanswered request dated back to April 2021, with remaining requests dating from January 2022 and every subsequent month, the ICO said.

'Failing to be transparent'

The ICO's enforcement notice requires Shropshire Council to reply to all outstanding requests that are more than 20 working days old, no later than six months from the date of the notice.

Failure to comply could lead to the council being found in contempt of court.

Phillip Angell, head of FOI Casework at the ICO, said: "People have a legal right to be able to ask their council about its actions and receive an answer promptly. In its poor handling of FOI requests, Shropshire Council has been failing to be transparent and accountable.

"We've demanded it does better."

The council said the ICO had called on the authority to improve the way it dealt with FOI requests.

In a statement, it added: "We have already made improvements to our FOI processes and have been reducing the number of overdue FOI requests.

"However, we still have more work to do and we are working with the ICO to improve our compliance with the legislation."