by LESTER CROSS
There are calls for the Scottish Parliament to give the country's Information Commissioner "realistic resources" to deal with Freedom of Information [FOI] appeals after Not Just Sheep & Rugby was told a total of 197 live cases have been on the watchdog's files for more than 12 months.
The sheer scale of the long-term backlog facing staff working for Scottish Information Commissioner [SIC] David Hamilton was revealed after one of our own information requests - originally submitted to Scottish Borders Council in June 2023 - fell victim to lengthy delays after it went to appeal.
We were told earlier this month that our application to the Commissioner which was validated as long ago as last September has still not been allocated to an investigating officer. And the SIC could give no indication when a decision notice would be issued.
After discovering that another FOI requester from the Borders had waited more than two years for her case to be dealt with, we asked the Commission in June: "How many ‘live’ cases currently on the SIC’s books were raised with you at least 12 months ago?"
Our question was deemed to be a FOI request. In a response received last week we were told: "I can confirm that, as of 25 June 2024, we had 197 live cases that were raised with us at least 12 months ago (i.e. on 25 June 2023 or earlier)."
The lengthening list of cases being processed by the SIC has been a matter of concern for stakeholders in the FOI system for some considerable time. But the number raised more than a year ago and still not signed off will do little to lessen the frustration felt by those waiting for decisions.
In February, Mr Hamilton told a Parliamentary committee: "It is unfortunate that we have a backlog, which has built up. As with many organisations, that is partly down to COVID and its legacy, but we are now dealing with it.
"Fundamentally, we could not keep up with the demand that was coming in, but we have now put measures in place whereby we have stopped the bleed, and we have control of the situation. We are dealing with the backlog in a managed and slightly different way, which has generally been well received across the organisation."
The Commissioner's concern had been that, if someone were to put in an appeal to his office "today", without any action being taken, they could wait for 18 months or two years before it was even considered, which was not an acceptable position to be in.
He added: "We have now made it a straight-through process, and all the cases that have come in since the beginning of January are progressing straight through to allocation and investigation. That is for dealing with the current cases. Of course, we need to deal with the backlog, too, and we are working on that."
We asked the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland (CFOIS) to comment on the backlog of 197 long-term appeals currently with the SIC.
Carole Ewart, director of the Campaign, pointed out that FOI law in Scotland was only powerful because the rights and duties were enforceable and freely accessible through the powers of the Scottish Information Commissioner.
She said: "Therefore delays in progressing FOI appeals weakens the regime overall, is hugely frustrating and annoying for requesters and harms the public interest as the system enables information to be kept secret for longer. The lengthy and established backlog of FOI appeals to the Commissioner proves that the Scottish Parliament must reform Scotland’s outdated FOI law so duty bearers get decisions right first time and allocate realistic resources to the Commissioner to ensure the appeals system operates efficiently. Consequently there is no operational or reputational advantage to designated public bodies refusing disclosure of information on spurious grounds."
CFOIS is urging people to support Labour MSP Katy Clark's Bill to reform the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 as it would "strengthen rights and duties".
Ms Ewart added: "The law is now 22 years old and the range of operational problems is increasing from levels of non-compliance such as the failure to respond to requests within 20 working days and the problem of outsourcing public services to other bodies making accessing information difficult. We look forward to supporting the Bill because the public interest is served by working together to build a resilient future for FOI".
COMING NEXT: OUR EXPERIENCE AT THE HANDS OF THE FOI SYSTEM
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