Central Govt Freedom of Information statistics July - September 2005

The third quarterly report providing statistics on implementation of the Act across central government covers July to September 2005.

Executive summary
Departments of State reported receiving a total of around 3,800 "non-routine" information requests during the third quarter of 2005 ("Q3"). Other monitored bodies received a total of around 3,700 requests. Across all monitored bodies, around 7,500 requests were received, of which 91 per cent had been processed at the time of monitoring.

The Q3 total of 7,500 requests across all monitored bodies compares to previous quarterly totals of 13,600 during the first quarter of the year ("Q1"), and 8,400 during the second quarter ("Q2"). These totals suggest that there was a marked initial "peak" in request volumes during the first quarter of the FoI Act's implementation.

During Q3, 90 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* or were subject to a permitted deadline extension. This represents an increase on the equivalent figures from Q1 (83 per cent) and Q2 (88 per cent).

Of all "resolvable" requests received during Q3 (i.e. requests where a substantive response was possible), 67 per cent were granted in full, compared to 59 per cent during Q2. Of the remaining Q3 requests, 10 per cent were withheld in part, 15 per cent were withheld in full, and the remainder had not yet received a substantive response.

Across all three quarters combined, monitored bodies had a cumulative total of 993 requests referred for Internal Review on the grounds that information was withheld. Of the 766 Internal Reviews with a known outcome at the time of monitoring, 78 per cent resulted in the request's initial handling being upheld in full.

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