NIO failing in information requests
THE Northern Ireland Office (NIO] has been named as one of 33 organisations across the UK which will be monitored after appearing to take too long to respond to freedom of information requests.
The Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] said they had received a “significant number” of complaints about bodies such as the NIO, the Home Office and Ministry of Defence since the information requests were introduced five years ago.
A spokesperson for the NIO told the News Letter yesterday, that they had responded to 95 per cent of requests on time, and said they welcomed the opportunity to meet with the ICO to give assurances over two cases which had been highlighted by the watchdog body.
The ICO’s deputy commissioner, Graham Smith said: “We will monitor the authorities named today for three months, but may take action during this timeframe if an authority’s standard of compliance to be particularly poor, or if it is unwilling to make the improvements necessary.
"This is a perfect opportunity for the authorities named to get their houses in order and demonstrate that they take freedom of information requests seriously."
The ICO said they considered the number of complaints received, published data showing where less than 85 per cent of requests had received a response within appropriate timescales, and occasions where authorities had exceeded time limits by a significant margin, when compiling the list. They will publish a quarterly list of the public authorities it is monitoring on its website.
The Cabinet Office, the British Transport Police, the Department for Work and Pensions, Transport for London and The Scotland Office were also on the list of 33 organisations, named and shamed.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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