ICO takes action against DIT and BEIS for slow responses to access requests

Article summary

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued the Department for International Trade (DIT) with an enforcement notice and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with a practice recommendation for repeated failures to reply to information access requests within the statutory time limits. From January to March 2022, the DIT issued late responses in over 50% of requests in breach of sections 1(1) and 10(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and is now obligated to respond to outstanding requests, within 35 calendar days, and publish a plan to mitigate further delays. Although the BEIS’ practices did not conform to the Freedom of Information Code of Practice, the ICO considered the effect on the department of increased requests and the proactive action BEIS had already taken, as well as its positive interaction with the ICO, so was only issued with a practice recommendation of actions that...