Covid-19 Special Reports

Poor FOI performance impacts on the reputation of the entire authority, and can be a symptom of broader shortcomings in practice and culture in the authority. Our interventions consistently show it is only when senior managers take ownership of these issues that lasting improvements can be made. Everyone in a public authority has a part to play in supporting the FOI function, and appropriate training and support should be provided to help them understand those obligations.

Freedom of information is only as good as the quality and availability of the records to which it provides access. Public authorities must ensure information is stored and managed in a way that enables relevant and important information to be provided, and allows the public to understand and scrutinise the authority's activities. With the widespread adoption of new technologies, systems and devices being used for work purposes, authorities must put in place effective, up-to-date procedures to ensure records that have been created are retained appropriately and are able to be found if requested.

With the right strategy, proactive publication can reduce the need for FOI requests, make responses to requests easier and more effective, manage public expectations, demonstrate transparency and accountability, and maintain trust. Regularly reviewing what is being asked for, considering what is likely to attract interest and being aware of what other authorities are publishing can all contribute to achieving these outcomes.

The pandemic has led to an unprecedented level of public appetite for accessing and scrutinising complex information - some of which may be misrepresented or simply misunderstood, while in many cases information disclosed has prompted further questions. Providing appropriate context when information is published or disclosed could save time later by reducing the likelihood of queries, requests, or appeals.

The impact of the pandemic, and in particular the requirement to close office premises, created unprecedented challenges for authorities in providing many of their services and functions. New ways of working were quickly rolled out, sometimes with information governance implications. Moreover, prioritisation of some functions resulted in the reallocation of resource away from FOI in some authorities. However, FOI remained an obligation throughout, so authorities need to ensure they properly account for it when implementing new systems or processes, including in making business continuity plans.

For example, the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the differences in how FOI applies to private care homes and those run by a local authority. I look forward to supporting future consultation activity regarding extending the coverage of FOI law, to ensure it keeps up with modern public service delivery models and continues to serve the public interest.

Emergency legislation temporarily extended the maximum timescale for responding to FOI requests and reviews from 20 to 60 working days. While relied on in a number of cases, this did not become the norm.

This may, to some extent, have contributed to the reduction in request volumes seen earlier in 2020. This highlights the importance of communicating clearly about change, and the role that a modernised proactive publication duty (which focuses on the public interest in information being swiftly and proactively published) should have in the future.

Authorities must continue to focus on the need to respond promptly to requests, whatever the maximum timescale in force at the time the request was handled, as a number of the Commissioner's enforcement decisions made to date have highlighted. Those authorities which have de-prioritised their FOI function risk damaging not only their FOI performance, but also the corresponding public trust in their organisations if these structures and resource are not restored.

However, any de-prioritising of authorities' internal FOI infrastructure which has taken place must be undone if good FOI performance is to be sustained, and it is essential that any authorities which have not already reinstated their FOI function do so now.