A London council has said it doesn’t know how many FOI requests it has responded to on time in the last year. 

The Romford Recorder report:

Havering Council is unable to say how many times it’s breached Freedom of Information law in the past year.

Ironically, that’s because the response to a Recorder FOI submission asking how many requests haven’t received timely responses is itself 27 working days overdue.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, public bodies – such as councils – must respond to requests for information within 20 working days, either supplying the data or making the case that it should be withheld.

You can read the full story here. 

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.