Freedom of Information: How good is your council?

Almost nine out of ten local authorities have complied with the deadline for dealing with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from the public since the Act came into force in January, according to a new survey.

The FOI Act provides the public with a general right of access to information held by 100,000 public authorities, which have a 20-day deadline to provide the information or explain why it is being withheld.

The survey, One month on - UK Local Authority responses to an FOI request, found 86 per cent dealt with requests within the deadline and also ranked the best performing councils.

The top seven, which met all the criteria for FOI requests, were Cornwall County, Corporation of London, Dartford Borough Council, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London Borough of Lambeth, Nottinghamshire County Council and Thurrock Borough Council.

Another 34 councils were rated as providing "very good" responses against the survey criteria.

Dealing with requests has also come at a price. Over half (55 per cent) of councils said they have invested in new technology specifically because of the FOI Act. But another nine per cent said they have no plans to bring in any new FOI-related technology.

The survey, carried out by vendor IDOX, questioned all 439 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.