A drop in the number of council Freedom of Information requests being answered on time has been partly blamed on high profile council projects.
In 2021/22, South Ayrshire Council received 928 FOI requests. As a number required responses from different departments, the total number of requests processed was 1,163.
In a report to the council’s service and performance panel, it was revealed that there was a drop in the number of requests answered within the statutory 20 working days, from 85 percent in 2020/21 to 72 percent in 2021/22.
A number of requests relating to ‘high profile’ issues were highlighted in the report along with the number of FOI requests each attracted:
- Citadel Leisure Centre – 13 requests
- Hourstons – 10
- Darlington Church Hall – 15
- Ayr Common Good – 9
- Ayr Station Hotel – 5
Information and governance lead Debbie McVey’s report stated: “All 319 late FOISA requests were due to services failing to provide the information on time.
“However it is recognised that services did not at times have access to paper records due to office closures in response to the national lock-down restrictions.”
Only 21 of the 928 requesters sought a review of decisions. Of these, three went a stage further and requested an independent investigation from the Scottish Information Commissioner.
The report sought to explain the issues.
It stated: “This is in part a result of multiple services requiring input into large and complex requests regarding high-profile council projects and completing priorities within services to provide information within time scales.
“While there is a reduction in the number of requests being issued within the 20 working-day statutory time scale, the Council received 165 more information requests in 2021/22 than in the previous reporting year.”
Ms McVey said one of the recommendations was for the council to take a proactive approach to publishing information on development projects, to keep the public advised in an ‘open and transparent manner’.
She said: “This can also reduce the number of information requests received by services involved, allowing them to direct resource towards operational matters.
“Proactively publishing information has the potential to reduce the
number of requests and again improve performance in responding to information requests received.
Members will note that the Council received 165 more information requests between 2020/21 and 2021/22.
South Ayrshire Council also pointed out that it performed positively when compared to similar councils.
Panel chair Bob Shields asked Ms McVey: “No-one likes to see an obvious decrease in performance. Is it simply a case of too many requesters and not enough staff to answer the requests?
Ms McVey responded: “It is a trend that most local authorities are coming up against just now.
“There is an increasing volume in requests and a smaller resource to actually answer those requests.”
She said that she was looking at introducing Microsoft 365 across services to make it simpler to co-ordinate and centralise information.
SNP councillor Ian Cochrane suggested that the information published could go further than development projects.
He said: “If every council decision and policy was advertised on the website that could see a reduction in applications for information. I would propose everything possible should be accessible via the council website.”
Cllr Shields concluded: “I see words like proactive, open and transparent. It does make me feel a bit happier. I am very encouraged to see this proactive side to continual improvement.”
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