Due to “alarming” opacity, government agencies are refusing to fully disclose more than half of requests for legal advice – with response times becoming increasingly slow.
Government data shows that less than 40 percent of freedom of information (FOI) requests filed in 2022 were fully granted, and more than half were partially or completely denied.
And more than half of public services fall short of the expected deadlines set by the official regulator.
Organizations are warning the British public and the media is increasingly being denied the right to proper government accountability.
Labor accused the prime minister of having “something to hide”.
Ministries and agencies will receive a record 52,740 freedom of information requests in 2022, according to government data released this week.
They are filed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which allows lawful access to information held by government agencies.
More than 20,000 requests for information were denied – only 39 percent of so-called “resolvable” cases were fully granted, compared with 40 percent last year.
Less than 40 percent of these (14,644) were provided in full, and 35 percent (20,812) were fully withheld. Another 20 percent was partially withheld.
Of those withheld in full, 15,016 were not made available because the government agency decided they included exceptions for reporting agents.
This follows a deteriorating trend towards government transparency.
Since the end of 2015, more than half of VVI responses have been held in whole or in part by ministries.
The government agencies with the highest percentage of FOI saved – over 50 percent – were the Cabinet Office, the Treasury, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Ofsted and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Duncan Haymes, political director at Transparency International UK, said: “Over the past year, requests for information from government agencies have been denied more or less as often as they have been fully complied with.
“There has been a steady trend towards denying the public the right to know information that should be freely available.
“Regardless of their operational differences, all public institutions should strive for a high level of transparency and accountability to the public.”
The data also shows that government agencies have become less responsive to requests in a timely manner, and many of them have not returned to pre-pandemic response levels.
By 2022, the response rate of half of government agencies will be deemed “inadequate” by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). A government agency or department that responds to less than 90 percent of requests within 20 business days will receive an error message.
As of 2022, this applies to 10 foreign ministries.
Sachin Savur, a researcher at the Institute of Public Administration, said: “In recent years, we have seen how government agencies and other government bodies are less and less timely in responding to requests.
“While the pandemic has created some legitimate operational challenges and the number of requests these organizations receive has increased, this is a concern.
“FOI is an important tool for those outside of government to hold them accountable, so failure to respond to requests in a timely manner deprives citizens, researchers and the media of the opportunity to do so.”
Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said: “Access to government information is a critical pillar of any democracy, but Rishi Sunak does not seem to be setting an example for the rest of the government.”
This was announced by a government spokesman: “This government is committed to transparency, which is why we publish thousands of white papers every year.
“However, we must balance the need to provide information while protecting confidential information and national security. “Despite the fact that we receive an increasing number of freedom of information requests, we continue to regularly disclose information beyond our obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and make more active disclosures than ever before.
Source: I News
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