ICO vows to fast-track 'public interest' FoI complaints

The Information Commissioner’s Office is implementing a new approach to prioritise complaints made under the Freedom of Information Act where there is significant public interest, as criticism over its snail-like response to complaints refuses to die down.

As part of the regulator’s efforts to improve its FoI services, the ICO claims its new prioritisation framework will ensure that complaints where there is significant public interest in the information requested will now be dealt with quicker than previously.

For the past year, the ICO maintains it has streamlined its processes to better handle the volume and complexity of FoI complaints it receives, so it can do more regulatory activity targeted at public authorities that are failing systemically to meet their transparency obligations. The prioritisation framework is one of the ICO’s new ways of working to ensure people receive swifter responses.

Information Commissioner John Edwards (pictured) said: “At the ICO we, like many public bodies, continue to face the long-term challenge of doing more with less in real terms. That is why we have been looking at ways to improve our FoI services, including making better choices to ensure we are delivering timely outcomes – such as prioritising issues that will have the greatest impact.

“Timeliness is everything in access to information, so we need the support from public authorities to ensure people are receiving timely responses. We will be doing our part by adding pace to our work, but we need commitment from senior leaders across public authorities to drive FoI compliance within their organisations, investing time and resources where needed to ensure people are receiving clarity about what information they are entitled to within the legal timeframe.”

In November 2022, the ICO launched a consultation on its proposed framework to prioritise certain complaints, while also delivering a swifter response to all incoming cases. The proposal recognised that FoI law is essential to a functioning democracy and that delays in the current system were undermining its effectiveness.

Following feedback from both the consultation and engagement sessions with stakeholders, the public interest criteria has now been clarified and refined. The new criteria provides clear guidance and expectations about what constitutes significant public interest – for example, if the issue is likely to involve large amounts of public money, or the information may significantly impact vulnerable groups.

The ICO will aim to allocate priority cases within four weeks and fast-track 15% to 20% of its caseload. In addition, it has committed to close 90% of all the cases it receives within six months (up from its previous target of 80%). The criteria will be kept under review and cover complaints made under both FOIA and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

Over the past 12 months, the ICO has reduced its caseload of 2,295 live complaints by almost two-thirds and delivered over 2,500 decision notices – a record which is better than any other year in its history, it claims.

As well as improving how complaints are managed, the ICO says is also taking more proactive action against public authorities that are systemically failing to comply with the law.

It has issued a number of practice recommendations to improve performance, including one last week for the Department for Work & Pensions that sets out improvements, in relation to the quality of responses and internal reviews.

Last week, the ICO also issued its second FoI enforcement notice since the launch of its new FoI Regulatory Manual last year. The notice requires Lewisham Council to respond to hundreds of overdue requests for information.

In April last year, an open letter coordinated by the online news organisation OpenDemocracy, and signed by 100 politicians, journalists, and campaigners, claimed the UK’s FoI laws are being undermined by a lack of resources and Government departments obstructing lawful requests, and it is down to the ICO to sort out the mess.

The move followed a Campaign for Freedom of Information report detailing how that backlogs at the ICO had become so extensive that it was taking an entire year for case officers to be assigned to review complaints.