FoI requests under control. In this issue, IWR publishes a special report on how public sector bodies have dealt with FoI requests. Here, we report on a study that suggests that most have coped well.(freedom of information)(Brief Article)

APR Smartlogik has released results of a survey showing that, in the first three months of the year, central government departments were receiving an average of 200 FoI enquiries a month, while local authorities averaged 48 requests.

The research suggests that only 20% of these requests were being satisfied by Publication Schemes, suggesting users were having trouble locating information on public websites. An average enquiry was taking six hours to fulfil, and costing around [pounds sterling]150 per query.

However, two-thirds of enquiries were classed as "complex", requiring reference to more than one department, and this complexity had resulted in far fewer "carbon copy" enquiries (which could be answered with standard responses) being received than originally expected.

APR Smartlogik said that many in the ...