Further to minute 54 (1 February 2010), the Director of Finance presented an update to the monitoring report, which had previously been considered by the Community and Customer Engagement Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 8 April 2009 (minute 38 refers). He reported upon the number of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests received by the Council since the introduction of the Act on 1 January 2005 and commented that whilst Central Government had seen a stabilisation of requests over the last two years, Local Government was reporting an increase year on year in general terms.

Wirral had benchmarked against a number of other local authorities and a comparison of the volume of requests since 2005 showed that Wirral had received a particularly high volume. He reported that the increasing number of FoI requests may necessitate a review of the staffing establishment. The high levels of FoI requests had also been cited by the Audit Commission as one of the reasons why the external audit fees payable by the Authority were above the scale level. He commented that the requests continued to reflect local topical issues such as the Strategic Asset Review, expenses claims, gritting of roads and allotment provision. They also reflected more global and national issues such as the use of biometrics in schools, amounts of Housing Benefits paid and adoption statistics.

The Director reported that the Council was allowed to refuse to disclose information to requestors if there was a legal exemption to do so. However, the Council refused only a small percentage of requests and the requestor was always given an explanation for a refusal. A requestor also had the right to request an internal review of how a request was handled. He commented that there was additional scope within the legislation to refuse to disclose information to requestors whose requests had become repeated or vexatious; Wirral has issued only two such refusal notices in total since the access rights came into force in 2005.

With the agreement of Members, a local resident, Mrs M Campbell, addressed the Committee and expressed concern as to how FoI requests were handled by the Council. She referred to guidance from the Information Commissioner in relation to the issue of refusal notices and to the requirements of section 17 of the Act.

Following a brief adjournment to seek clarification in relation to refusals and refusal notices, and other legal issues referred to, the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management confirmed that a Refusal Notice could be issued to requestors whose requests had become repeated or vexatious; this was done with reluctance and the Council always followed the advice of the Information Commissioners. A refusal to disclose information could be for a number of reasons, where there was a legal exemption, including requests for personal data and information which could prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs. In such circumstances, reasons for the refusal should be given, together with information as to how the requestor could pursue the matter, either by way of an internal review, or an appeal to the Office of the Information Commissioner.

In response to comments from Members, the Directors confirmed that a register was maintained of FoI requests and a breakdown could be provided to a future meeting of the Committee, although officers could not disclose the identity of persons who had made requests for information. With regard to a specific request referred to by a Member, where a response had not been received, the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management requested that it be forwarded to him direct for investigation.

Resolved –

(1)  That the report be noted.

(2)  That a further detailed report be presented to the next meeting of the Committee to include a breakdown of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act during 2009/2010.

(3)  That the officers be requested to arrange to meet with Mrs Campbell in order to consider fully the issues referred to in her statement.

(4)  That the issue of Freedom of Information requests be included in the Committees work programme for 2010/2011.