Freedom of Information (FOI) - Statistics
The following statistics have been produced in line with guidance from the Ministry of Justice.
What is not included
The Council supplies large amounts of information, both on request and proactively, as an established and routine part of its business. This includes information released in the form of leaflets, correspondence exchanges, reports and other published material, and through its website. On the occasions that information is requested, most requests are easily dealt with as part of day-today business. The following statistics does not capture these routine requests as it would be both uninformative and fundamentally unfeasible to monitor all such activity.
What is included
The types of information that are formally treated as FOI request and that are reflected in the following statistics are:
- Those submitted directly or past to the Council's Information Governance Team; and
- Requests for information that do not reflect day-to-day business because they are usually quite voluminous or involve the collation of information from many Council services; and/or
- The requester has asked that their request be dealt with under the FOI Act.
Overview of the number of requests received from 2005-2010
The following table provides an annual breakdown of the number of requests received, what the resulting action was and who the main group of requesters were.
Overview of performance and main groups of requesters between 2005-2010
| Description | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of requests received | 131 | 231 | 197 | 333 | 526 | 596 |
| All information sought supplied | 67% | 56% | 62% | 65% | 72% | 76% |
| Some of the information sought supplied | 16% | 23% | 18% | 18% | 8% | 7.4% |
| Requests cancelled or information not held | 10% | 6% | 18% | 13% | 10% |
7% |
| Requests refused and information withheld | 7% | 15% | 2% | 4% | 10% | 9.4% |
| 20 day deadline met | 90% | 95% | 92% | 97% | 92% | 97% |
| Main Group of Requesters | ||||||
| Companies | 39% | 35% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 17.6% |
| Press/Media | 11% | 16% | 26% | 26% | 29% | 28.9% |
| Political (MPs, political parties) | -- | -- | -- | 16% | 11% | 2.2% |
| Other (private individuals, unions, charities, etc) | 50% | 49% | 59% | 43% | 45% | 250% |
FOI Statistics - 2012
| Regulation | Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 |
Grand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) |
6 | 17 | 16 | 8 | 47 |
| Freedom of Information (FOI) | 229 | 178 | 173 | 148 | 728 |
| Grand Total | 235 | 195 | 189 | 156 | 775 |
| Completed | Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Time | 229 | 192 | 169 | 138 | 683 |
| Out of Time | 6 | 3 | 20 | 18 | 34 |
| Grand Total | 235 | 195 | 189 | 156 | 775 |
Total Number of Requests by Action
| Result | Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All information sought supplied | 176 | 134 | 135 | 124 | 569 |
| Exemption applied* - some of the information sought supplied | 30 | 30 | 20 | 16 | 96 |
| Exemption applied* - all information withheld | 3 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 22 |
| Refused on cost grounds | 18 | 13 | 14 | 3 | 48 |
| Refused as information is already publicly available | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
| Request cancelled by the requestor | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| Information not held | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Information not held - request transferred to another public body | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Total | 235 | 195 | 189 | 156 | 775 |
Overview of which exemptions have been used
| Use of Exemption* | Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3a - Exempt personal data | 2 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 26 |
| 4b Manifestly unreasonable | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4d Work in rogress/incomplete data | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5e Impinges on confidentiality ofcommercial or industrial information | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| s.22 Information intended for future publication | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| s.31 Law Enforcement | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| s.36 Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3.38 Health and Safety | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| s.40 Personal Information | 14 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 36 |
| s.41 Information provided inconfidence | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| s.42 Legal professional privilege | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| s.43 Commercial Interests | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 21 |
| s.44 Prohibitions on disclosure | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| r.12(5)(b) Adverse effect on course of justice or conduct of inquiries | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 33 | 37 | 27 | 21 | 118 |
Further guidance on what each exemption/exception means can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website.
Overview of the main groups of requesters who submit requests for information
| Main Groups of Requesters | Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private Business/Commercial | 70 | 60 | 41 | 39 | 210 |
| Press/Media | 51 | 41 | 30 | 42 | 164 |
| Other (private individuals, unions, charities, etc) | 108 | 91 | 114 | 64 | 377 |
| Political Parties | 6 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 24 |
| Total | 235 | 195 | 189 | 156 | 775 |