ICO Takes Enforcement Action again Two Government Departments

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The Information Commissioner has published details of enforcement action against two government departments. The action, the first in seven years, relates to failures to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) has received a formal enforcement notice. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has received a practice recommendation.

Both relate to a failure to respond to Freedom of Information requests within the 20 working day statutory limit, or in face responding to requests at all, with DIT’s performance falling below 50%.

The formal enforcement notice has the same power as a court order and breaching it therefore could result in the Department being found in contempt of court. DIT must mow clear its backlog of overdue requests and publish an action plan to ensure it complies with its statutory duties in the future.

BEIS got a practice recommendation because, unlike DIT, it experienced a large increase in requests (55% year on year) and it also engaged well with the ICO’s investigation. The ICO identified several opportunities for process improvements that will help lift BEIS’s Freedom of Information performance. BEIS will also however be required to publish its own action plan for improvement.

This enforcement action, the first in seven years by the ICO, marks a new phase of more robust regulation of Freedom of Information which has often felt like the junior partner to the GDPR. It will be important for all public sector organisations to ensure they comply with their statutory duties under FOI.

You can read more on the ICO’s website here.

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Three Ways to Improve FOI Performance

• ensure you have a fully comprehensive publication scheme that includes responses to previous FOI requests. This will help reduce the burden of requests you receive
• make sure people understand exemptions and how they work – delays can often occur when people don’t understand they need to evidence or support a refusal to disclose information in many instances
• don’t wait until you have all the information requested to respond. You can respond in batches, and your earliest response is likely to count as the formal response date for statutory timescales

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