Freedom of Information statistics July - September 2005
The third quarterly report providing statistics on implementation of
the Act across central government covers July to September 2005.
Executive summary
- Departments of State reported receiving a total of around 3,800 "non-routine" information
requests during the third quarter of 2005 ("Q3"). Other monitored
bodies received a total of around 3,700 requests. Across all monitored
bodies, around 7,500 requests were received, of which 91 per cent had been
processed
at the time of monitoring.
- he Q3 total of 7,500 requests across all
monitored bodies compares to previous quarterly totals of 13,600 during
the first quarter of the year
("Q1"), and 8,400 during the second quarter ("Q2").
These totals suggest that there was a marked initial "peak" in
request volumes during the first quarter of the FoI Act's implementation.
- During Q3, 90 per cent of all monitored bodies' requests (excluding
those "on hold" or lapsed) were "in time", in
that they were processed within the statutory deadline* or were subject
to a
permitted deadline extension. This represents an increase on the equivalent
figures from Q1 (83 per cent) and Q2 (88 per cent).
- Of all "resolvable" requests
received during Q3 (i.e. requests where a substantive response was possible),
67 per cent were granted in
full, compared to 59 per cent during Q2. Of the remaining Q3 requests,
10 per cent were withheld in part, 15 per cent were withheld in full,
and the
remainder had not yet received a substantive response.
- Across all three
quarters combined, monitored bodies had a cumulative total of 993 requests
referred for Internal Review on the grounds that
information was withheld. Of the 766 Internal Reviews with a known
outcome at the time
of monitoring, 78 per cent resulted in the request's initial handling
being upheld in full.
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