Bristol City Council leader says FOI progress made following enforcement notice
The Information Commissioner's Office ordered action be taken by the local authority last month
Bristol City Council's leader says good progress is being made to tackle a backlog of freedom of information requests.
Councillor Tony Dyer's responded to the Information Commissioner's Office issuing an enforcement notice last month.
He says processes have been streamlined - but he's also admitted there's much more work to do:
In a statement issued last month, Sally-Anne Poole, Head of Investigations at the Information Commissioner's Office, said:
“Subject access requests are a fundamental right that allows people to know what information organisations hold about them and how it is being used. Despite our repeated engagement with Bristol City Council over a sustained period of time, limited progress has been made to clear a backlog of requests. Our investigation has found that the Council’s approach towards compliance demonstrates a poor organisational attitude towards data rights and compliance with the law. This enforcement notice requires them to clear their SAR backlog in a timely manner, and make lasting improvements to bring their practices in line with the law.”
In a response issued today, Bristol City Council leader Councillor Tony Dyer said:
“Since the issuing of the ICO’s enforcement notice last month, we have made good progress towards tackling the backlog of Subject Access Requests and streamlining our FoI processes. This has resulted in us meeting the requirements for compliance set out in the FoI notice.
“We appreciate that there is still much more work to do to improve, particularly in relation to our response times. However, we are encouraged by the positive changes we have seen so far and remain committed to providing a better service.”