Department for Constitutional Affairs - People's Rights - Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information statistics April - June 2005

The second quarterly report providing statistics on implementation of the act across central government covers April to June 2005.

Departments of State reported receiving a total of around 3,800 "non-routine" information requests during the second quarter of 2005 ("quarter 2"). Other monitored bodies received a total of around 4,600 requests. Across all monitored bodies, around 8,400 requests were received, of which 89 per cent had been processed at the time of monitoring.
During quarter 2, 88 per cent of all monitored bodies' requests (excluding those "on hold" or lapsed) were "in time", in that they were processed within the statutory deadline of 20 working days or were subject to a permitted deadline extension.
Of all "resolvable" requests received during quarter 2 (i.e. requests where a substantive response was possible), 59 per cent were granted in full, 12 per cent were withheld in part, and 19 per cent were withheld in full. The remaining requests had not yet received a substantive response.
During quarter 1 and quarter 2 combined, monitored bodies had a total of 806 requests referred for Internal Review on the grounds that information was withheld. Of the 564 Internal Reviews with a known outcome at the time of monitoring, 79 per cent resulted in the initial handling of the request being upheld in full.