ICO obtains promises on quicker FoI replies

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence and Birmingham city council have formally agreed to reply to freedom of information (FoI) enquiries more quickly. All three public bodies have signed undertakings to change the way they deal with FOI enquiries. The ICO warned that if they fail to comply, the organisations could face regulatory action. The formal agreements follow a three month exercise in which the ICO monitored the ways in which 33 authorities replied to FoI enquiries, after concerns were raised about their performance. It has required seven to make improvements. In recent weeks four local authorities - Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Westminster and Wolverhampton – have agreed to improve their performance. Information commissioner Christopher Graham said: "We've now had written assurances that a clear plan of action will be put in place by the public authorities that caused us most concern. I'm satisfied that this will now happen but do not rule out taking further action if needed. "Timely responses to initial requests are key to an effective access to information regime. These firm commitments to improvement are very welcome. We are seeing good results from the ICO's monitoring exercise and it's essential that the improving trend continues." The ICO is currently monitoring the performance of another set of public authorities after concerns were raised about delays in responding to FOI requests. They include the City of London Police, Welsh Assembly Government, the Department for Education and a number of councils. This article is published by Guardian Professional. For weekly updates of news, debate and best practice on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here.