Decision details

The report of the Director of Central Services provided an update on the discharge of the Borough Council’s duties in managing requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI), the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).

Members were advised of the increasing volume and complexity of information rights requests, which had risen from approximately 720 three years ago to over 1,223 last year.  This increase was attributed to greater public awareness, more requests from organisations and the frequent use in contentious matters e.g., planning applications.

Requests for information were currently managed by devolving responsibility to individual service co-ordinators, which had led to increased workloads and pressure on these services especially as requests were increasingly complex.  In addition, the current system was manual, lacked efficiency and with no dedicated Information Governance Officer there was a potential risk of non-compliance with statutory response deadlines and data protection legislation.

It was clarified that while the Information Commissioner had the power to levy significant fines for non-compliance, there was generally a reluctance to fine local councils and other enforcement actions were preferred.  However, the  maximum fine could be up to £17.5 million or 4% of turnover.

A dedicated resource could help manage the increasing volume and complexity of requests more effectively, support transparency and mitigate risk.   Due to the growing demand and burden of requests, the Committee supported reviewing options for managing information requests with any proposals to be considered by the General Purposes Committee in the first instance.

The Chair proposed, Cllr King seconded and the Committee

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the contents of the report be noted; and

(2)            a review of resources for the management of information requests be supported, subject to any proposals being considered by the General Purposes Committee and the Council.