Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
A “worrisome” lack of transparency has led agencies to refuse to fully disclose more than half of statutory information requests, and when they do, response times are becoming increasingly slow.
Government records show that less than 40% of recorded Freedom of Information (FOI) requests in 2022 were fully granted, and more than half were partially or fully withheld.
And more than half of the government sector has not met the scheduled timeframes set by official oversight bodies.
The organization is warning the British public that the media are increasingly being denied the right to proper government accountability.
Labor accused the Prime Minister of having “hidden secrets”.
According to government data released this week, a record 52,740 FOI requests were received by government departments and agencies during 2022.
They are filed under the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, which provides lawful access to information held by public authorities.
Over 20,000 requests for information have been denied. Only 39% of so-called ‘solvable’ cases were fully granted, down from 40% the year before.
Of these, less than 40% (14,644) were granted in full, and 35% (20,812) were fully withheld. A further 20% were partially withheld.
Of those that were fully withheld, 15,016 were disallowed because the agency determined they contained an information subject exemption.
This follows a trend of declining government transparency.
Since the end of 2015, more than half of the government sector’s FOI responses have been partially or fully withheld.
Government agencies with the highest percentage of FOIs withheld (50% or more) were the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Finance, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Ofsted, and the Royal Public Prosecutor’s Office (CPS).
Duncan Hames, Policy Director at Transparency International UK, said:
“There is a steady movement to deny the public the right to know information that should be freely available.
“Whatever the operational differences, all government departments should aim to provide a high level of transparency and accountability to the public.”
The data also show that government departments are getting worse at responding to requests on time, with many failing to return to pre-pandemic response rates.
In 2022, half of the government sector will have a response rate deemed “poor” by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). An agency or department that responds to less than 90% of requests within 20 business days will be given an unsatisfactory rating.
According to 2022 data, this applies to 10 of the Departments of State.
Sachin Savur, research assistant at the Institute for Government, said:
“While the pandemic has brought some legitimate operational challenges, the number of requests these organizations are receiving has increased, which is a concern.
“FOI is an important tool for people outside government to account for it, so failure to respond to requests in a timely manner means that citizens, researchers and the media will miss the opportunity to respond.”
Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said: “Access to government information is a key pillar of democracy, but Rishi Sunak appears to be hiding something rather than setting an example for the rest of government. .”
Government spokesperson: “The government values transparency, which is why it publishes thousands of official documents every year.
“However, we have an obligation to balance classified information with the need to make it available while protecting national security. We continue to regularly disclose information beyond our obligations under FOI law and release more aggressive publications than ever before.