The report of the Assistant Director – Legal and Governance is attached.

Contact:  Tim Collard (01743) 252756

The Committee received the report of the Assistant Director – Legal and Governance - copy attached to the signed Minutes – which summarised the Council’s compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and provided an update on the Information Commissioner (ICO) enforcement notice received in April 2023.

The Assistant Director – Legal and Governance explained that they had now got to the position they always should have been at.  He had informed the Committee at its September meeting that things were moving in the right direction in terms of the enforcement notice.  He was therefore pleased to say that progress had been maintained and that a meeting had been held with the ICO earlier in November who were pleased to confirm that as the Council had complied with the enforcement notice, they were no longer subject to it however, compliance would be kept under scrutiny as the progress that had been made needed to be maintained.

The report set out how the Council intended to maintain progress and embed the process.  A new member of staff had been appointed to assist with this along with an internal review by the Office of the Chief Executive to review the processes to see where they could be streamlined and improved.  Fundamentally, it was about focussing attention and really understanding the importance of responding to requests in a timely manner in accordance with the statutory requirements.

In response to a query, the Head of Policy and Governance confirmed that there was a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that was monitored through Legal and Governance specifically for FOI requests.  He confirmed that since the enforcement notice was issued on 26 April 2023 they had a six month period in which to turn around the Council’s poor position in terms of FOI response rates which not only included responding to new requests, it also included a backlog of requests that went back over a number of months and the focus had been on undertaking that work in order to get to a compliant position.  The work with the Office of the Chief Executive to undertake a review going forward would obviously identify some of those areas that could be further improved upon in order to improve efficiency and the way in which the council reacted as an organisation to FOI requests. 

The Assistant Director – Legal and Governance confirmed that the Council were moving towards a more centralised arrangement and following on from the enforcement notice needed to take stock of the most effective mechanism moving forward to sustain compliance.  It was suggested that the Council undertake some proactive communications work in areas where there was increased FOI interest which may reduce the number of FOI requests received and thereby reduce the burden on the Council.  The Head of Policy and Governance confirmed that this was being considered and had been worked on by the Information Governance team tirelessly over the summer alongside other service areas to try to increase publication of information where possible. This was also being picked up by the Office of the Chief Executive and would be reported back to a future meeting.

In response to a query, the Assistant Director – Legal and Governance confirmed that time would tell whether the Council had capacity going forward to manage the growth in FOI requests.  He felt that, whilst there could be an increase in the number of FOI requests received, technology may proportionately help, including possibly AI (Artificial Intelligence), in understanding the information the Council held more effectively. 

RESOLVED:

To note the Council’s response to the ICO enforcement notice.