The Freedom of Information Scrutiny Review has been referred to the Cabinet by the Transformation and Resources Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 14 April, 2014.

Attached are the minute, report and Scrutiny Review.

The Freedom of Information Scrutiny Review was referred to Cabinet by the Transformation and Resources Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 14 April, 2014. 

Councillor Adam Sykes was in attendance at the meeting and introduced the report on the findings and recommendations of the Freedom of Information Scrutiny Review which had been undertaken by three members of the Committee, Councillors Christina Muspratt, Adam Sykes and Stuart Whittingham.

The Cabinet noted that the Review Panel’s report contained eight recommendations which it believed should assist the Council in managing its requirements to meet the Freedom of Information Act and also to become a more open and transparent Council.

Councillor Adam Sykes reported that the Council’s Freedom of Information response times had improved and were now at 85% and within the guidelines.

Councillor Ann McLachlan congratulated Councillors Sykes, Muspratt and Whittingham on the Freedom of Information Scrutiny Review and the Final Report and informed that she considered it to be an excellent piece of Task and Finish work.  There were eight recommendations flowing from it and an action plan had been drawn up which would be implemented between now and December 2014 and there would be a single point of contact for FOIs within Departments.  Timescales would be shortened and consideration would be given to how all FOI information was captured before it was disseminated.  If new computer software was required a business case for it would be produced.  The position with FOI would be regularly reported to the Chief Executive’s Strategy Group and to Policy and Performance Committees.  It was also intended to include frequently asked questions on the Council’s website.

Councillor McLachlan also informed that a further piece of work would be carried out by the Council’s Marketing Team to establish how accessible the information was on the website.

All in all this had demonstrated that Members working together could identify shared solutions that would assist the Council in a structured way.

Councillor Adam Sykes thanked the Cabinet Member for the way it had been decided to take FOIs forward.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the report of the Scrutiny Panel be noted;

(2)  Councillors Christina Muspratt, Adam Sykes and Stuart Whittingham be thanked for their hard work on the FOI Scrutiny Review; and

(3)  the Head of Legal and Member Services and his Team be thanked for their contributions.

Councillor Sykes introduced a report on the findings and recommendations of the Freedom of Information Scrutiny Review which had been undertaken by three members of the Committee, Councillors Christina Muspratt, Adam Sykes and Stuart Whittingham.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provided public access to information held by public authorities. Public authorities were obliged to publish certain information about their activities and members of the public were entitled to request information from them.

In January 2013, Wirral Council was subject to a three month period of monitoring action by the Information Commissioner’s Office due to the timeliness of responding to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests. On 14 November 2013, the Information Commissioner’s Office notified the Council that it was satisfied performance had improved, resulting in no further monitoring action being taken. The Review Panel acknowledged and commended the Council in ensuring that response times for FoI requests were now over the 85% threshold required by the Information Commissioner. 

The Review Panel’s report provided a number of recommendations which they believed should assist the Council in managing its requirements to meet the Freedom of Information Act and also to become a more open and transparent Council.

The report contained 8 recommendations which the Committee were requested to consider.

Councillor Sykes thanked the officers involved in producing the report, Jane Corrin, Surjit Tour and Mike Lester.

The Chair echoed the thanks to officers and also thanked the other two Members involved in the Scrutiny Review.

A Member queried what could be done with the search facility on the internet which could help to reduce the number of FoI requests if information was more easily accessed on the internet.

The Strategic Director responded that anything to improve the ‘search’ facility across the internet would be looked at and the Council was shortly to embark on changes to internet accessibility. This could be picked up by the Committee in the new municipal year.

He also welcomed the positive approach taken by the scrutiny review. It was important to note the number of requests received was around the average for comparable local authorities and that response times had improved significantly. The aim would be to provide consistency in terms of response times. The more information that the Council could provide upfront then the hope would be to reduce the number of FoI requests. He welcomed the report and was happy to accept all the recommendations.

Resolved –

(1)  That the contents of the report be noted and the eight recommendations contained therein, be endorsed.

(2)  That the Freedom of Information Scrutiny Review be referred to Cabinet.