Public bodies in Scotland are losing the trust of the people they are supposed to serve by failing to respond to requests for information.
Scottish Information Commissioner Rosemary Agnew has published her annual report, which revealed there was a 14% rise in the number of appeals submitted to her office in 2012/13 because public bodies had refused or failed to respond to Freedom of Information requests.
More than a quarter of these appeals (27%) were because the public body involved did not respond to requests within 20 working days as they are obliged to by law.
Almost a third (29%) involved Scottish Government ministers failing to respond, and 16% involved Edinburgh City Council.
Dundee City Council was involved in 4% of appeals. Two years ago, the local authority was forced to take steps to improve the way it handles FOI requests after assessors found a “significant proportion” were not answered within the 20-day limit.
“Eight years on from the introduction of FOI, we would expect authorities to be more effective at handling requests, not less so,” said Ms Agnew.
“When they don’t respond, authorities fail to respect people’s legal rights to information: information which can be extremely important.”
New research has found only 49% of the Scottish public are confident they would receive an FOI response within 20 working days, with only 10% stating that they would be “very confident” of a response.
Ms Agnew added that failure to respond to requests timeously also costs the taxpayer more in the long-term.
“Scottish public authorities that are falling short should take steps to address their performance as an immediate priority.
“In doing so, they should also remember that failing to respond doesn’t make requests go away but just creates unnecessary extra work and increases costs. The most efficient option is to get it right first time.”
Ms Agnew warned that the number of FOI requests not being answered may be much higher as not everyone may appeal. She added that there needs to be further debate about whether FOI powers can be extended to non-public bodies.
The Scottish Government has already extended the remit of legislation to cover arms-length culture, sports and leisure trusts but Ms Agnew said greater powers may be needed because of cutbacks.
She added: “The right to information needs to keep pace with the change to keep pace with the change to the public sector landscape.
“We don’t want to see the right to information diminish because the local authority does not deliver some services directly.”