Record number of Freedom of Information requests made
- Published
The number of Freedom of Information requests received by Scottish public bodies has reached a record high.
The Scottish Information Commissioner reported a rise of 8% in the year 2018-19 compared to the previous year.
A total of 83,963 requests were reported by Scottish public authorities. Three quarters of these requests led to a full or partial release of information.
About 10.3% of these requests were for environmental information.
The information commissioner's annual report showed the number of appeals was also up. A total of 560 requests were appealed to the commissioner, up 10%, representing 0.7% of all requests made.
And 64% of appeals followed requests made to local or central government. The same percentage of the commissioner's decisions were either fully or partially in favour of the requester.
Top tips on making FOI requests
Do your research - you may not even need to wait 20 days for the information you're after. So scour the authority's website, their FOI disclosure log if they have one, or other FOI responses on the What Do They Know website, external
Narrow the scope of your request - if you are too vague you may end up having to pay for the information you're after. An FOI is free provided the effort (people hours and reproduction costs) doesn't amount to more than £600.
FOI, FOISA, or EIR? Acquaint yourself with the different freedom of information legislation. The UK-wide FOI Act covers bodies such as the Home Office, FOISA is for Scottish bodies like SEPA and councils, and EIR is related to environment-specific requests. It's not uncommon for an authority to deny your FOISA request on the grounds it should have been submitted as an EIR request.
Keep a log of all your requests - the majority of public authorities won't get you your response within the 20-day window so it's vital to note when each one is due back. This way you can immediately chase the authority - or perhaps better yet - ask for a review on the basis that legislative timescales have not been met.
Keep copies of all email correspondence - you won't be able to file an appeal without these. And do make sure to sign off all correspondence with your full name otherwise the appeal will be refused and you've just wasted at least two months. (Trust me - I've learned this one the hard way.)
Read more from BBC Scotland's data journalist Marc Ellison here.
The report also highlighted that authorities are increasingly failing to comply with a 20 working day deadline. About a quarter (26%) of the appeals upheld by the commissioner were about a failure by authorities to respond.
More than 250 interventions were made by the commissioner over the year - a third of basic interventions looked at authorities' compliance with the statutory timeframe. Failure to adhere to it can be down to management and culture issues, staffing levels or procedures not working well, the commissioner said.
FOI law also requires authorities to proactively publish information. Respondents to a poll carried out for the commissioner showed the public wanted information to be accessible without having to ask for it.
Nine out of 10 respondents thought it was important for authorities to publish reasons for decisions, information about contracts with other organisations and information about how authorities spend their money.
Daren Fitzhenry, Scottish Information Commissioner, said many authorities were performing well. However, he added that "there has been a concerning increase in failures to respond to requests for information on time".
Mr Fitzhenry continued: "Such failures impact on people's perception of both freedom of information and the authorities themselves."
- Published17 October 2019
