FOI complaints handling performance

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In this section

The diagrams below show both the volume of cases received and closed per quarter since the Freedom of Information Act came into force and the outcomes of cases on closure for the current financial year. 

These diagrams will be updated on a quarterly basis in order to provide information on our performance more frequently than in the Annual Report alone.

The ICO closed 769 cases between July and September 2008. The average case closure per quarter for 2007/2008 was 665.

Receipts for quarter 2 of 2008/2009 were 758. The average receipts per quarter for 2007/2008 was 655. This was higher than the average receipts for 2006/2007 (648).

The caseload snapshot shows the age of cases within a complaints team under investigation or awaiting allocation to a complaints officer as at 30 September 2008.

We remained concerned about the percentage of cases over 1 year old and continue to work hard to close older cases, however a number remain open due to the complexity of the investigation.

 

FOI cases received and closed 

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The above bar chart shows the total number of Freedom of information cases received and closed since the Freedom of Information Act came into force in January 2005. It shows that:

  • in quarter 4 2004/05, 365 cases were received and 71 cases were closed;
  • in quarter 1 2005/06, 743 cases were received and 140 cases were closed; in quarter 2, 743 cases were received and 286 cases were closed; in quarter 3, 527 cases were received and 496 cases were closed; and in quarter 4 - 700 cases received, 744 cases closed;
  • in quarter 1 2006/07, 648 cases were received and 742 cases were closed; in quarter 2, 690 cases received and 726 cases closed; in quarter 3, 536 cases were received and 469 cases were closed; and in quarter 4, 718 cases were received and 664 cases were closed;
  • in quarter 1 2007/08, 694 cases were received and 677 cases were closed; in quarter 2, 659 cases were received and 662 cases closed;  in quarter 3, 556 cases were received and 641 cases were closed; and in quarter 4, 711 cases were received and 678 cases were closed.;
  • in quarter 1 2008/09, 707 cases  were received and 706 cases were closed; and in quarter 2, 758 cases were received, 769 cases were closed.

 

Outcome of FOI cases closed in the first and second quarter of 2008/09

 

A pie chart showing the outcomes of Freedom of Information cases closed during the first quarter 2008/2009. 


The pie chart above shows the outcomes of Freedom of Information cases closed during the first and second quarter 2008/2009. Almost half of the cases were informally resolved.  The figures for each outcome are as follows:

 
Key Outcome %
Informally resolved 49%
No action required by ICO or complaint withdrawn by applicant 1%
No internal review carried out by public authority 10%
Other 4%
Decision Notice served 10%
Ineligible or not an application for a decision under Section 50 26%



FOI age profile of caseload as at 30 September 2008 

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The pie chart above shows the age profile of cases that are currently within a complaints team either being investigated or awaiting allocation to a complaints officer. Cases that have been received by the office but have not been through the classification process and accepted as Freedom of Information Complaints as at the 30.09.2008 are not included in these figures. The figures for each timescale are as follows:

  • 0 to 30 days – 99 cases, 8% ;
  • 31 to 90 days – 166 cases, 13%;
  • 91 to 180 days – 205 cases, 16% ;
  • 181 to 365 days – 348 cases, 27%;
  • 1 year to 18 months – 241 cases, 19%;
  • 18 months to 2 years – 106 cases, 8%;
  • over 2 years – 103 cases, 8%.