Agenda item

This is a half year report of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.        

The Committee received a report of the Head of Democracy and Governance which provided the half year report of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  The report covered the period from 1 April 2013 to 30 September 2013.

The Head of Democracy and Governance informed the Committee that some of the information related to requests about IT had not been logged correctly and since the publication of the report had been updated.  Revenues and Benefits had managed the backlog of requests and was responding to more recent requests on time.

The Shared Director of Finance added that Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and complaints for Revenues and Benefits were included in the weekly and monthly management updates.

It was noted that there were a number of requests for information about funerals arranged by the Council.  The Head of Democracy and Governance explained that under its Public Health duty the Council had to arrange funerals for those people who died with no next of kin and no assets.

Councillor Williams noted the number of requests for information and asked whether this was normal.  He had noted that officers were still unable to obtain benchmark information from other local authorities.  He asked if it would be possible to breakdown the information into the different Council departments and whether officers felt this would be useful.

The Head of Democracy and Governance explained that every department had an officer responsible for logging FOI requests on the Council’s software.  There were two officers within the Customer Service Centre who were responsible for the overall management of FOIs and collating multi service requests.  Heads of Service were provided with details of all FOI requests logged for their service and whether they had been responded to in time.  She advised that she monitored the responses and contacted those services who were not meeting the deadlines.  IT and Revenues and Benefits had been the only services which had caused any concern. 

Councillor Watkin asked whether the responses to the FOI requests were in the public domain.

The Head of Democracy and Governance informed the Committee that when requests were submitted through the website https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/ the Council’s response was added to the website.  The information was then publicly available.  One consideration was whether the Council wanted to publish all responses online.  There was a concern that the data might overload the Council’s website.  She was unaware of any reason why a response could not be disclosed to a third party if requested.

Councillor Brandon said that some of the requests showed a trend and if the information was provided it might cut down on some of the repeated submissions.

The Shared Director of Finance advised that the Council’s Publication Scheme set out what information was available and where to find it.  In response to an FOI request it was possible to direct people to other sources of information.

Councillor Khan commented that some of the requests appeared to be questions and not specific FOI requests.  He noted that a complaint had been included in the list.  The Head of Democracy and Governance advised that the Council took the stance that any questions submitted should be treated as an FOI request.

It was noted that Councillor Watkin was included as having submitted a FOI request.  He said that all Members asked questions and why his had been considered a FOI.  The Head of Democracy and Governance replied that the officer who had taken the request for information possibly felt it should be logged as an FOI.

The Shared Director of Finance added that the Information Commissioner stated that a request for information should be considered an FOI if a question was posed.

Councillor Taylor referred to Parliamentary questions and how it was possible to refuse to respond due to the cost of completing that request.  He asked whether Councils could do the same.

The Head of Democracy and Governance confirmed that local authorities were able to refuse FOI requests if a response would take longer than 18 hours to find the information, at a cost of £25 per hour.  If the person challenged the refusal the Council would need to be able to provide evidence to support its response.  There were occasions when the Council did not hold the requested information, for example about schools, or specific exemptions applied which restricted the release of information.

Councillor Brandon noted the request for information about Farm Terrace Allotments.  He asked whether it was possible to see the response.  The Head of Democracy and Governance confirmed that she would circulate the answer to the Committee.

RESOLVED –

that the contents of the report be noted.