News from Welsh Labour

Welsh Councils refused thousands of information requests

Welsh councils have refused to answer thousands of requests for information from the public over the past three years.

According to figures released to the Labour Group in the Welsh Assembly, nearly 10 per cent of all Freedom of Information requests to Welsh local authorities have been refused.

In total more than 14,000 requests were received with nearly 1,300 left totally or partially unanswered.

The Freedom of Information Act was introduced in 2000 by the Labour Party to make government is more transparent and allow public access to data.

Gwynedd council had the highest rejection rate with 165 rejected out of 739 requests totally or partially unanswered.

Lesley Griffiths, Assembly Member for Wrexham, today said the Freedom of Information laws were a crucial tool of scrutiny.

She said:

“The Freedom of Information Act was a landmark Act of Parliament that gave private citizens the ‘right to know’ and I don’t think that some public bodies have embraced that ethos yet.

“Whether those in the political world agree with it or not there’s no doubt the extra scrutiny on public bodies is welcomed by the taxpayer.

“Obviously, some requests can simply not be answered as they may be too general, are too time-consuming to deal with or jeopardise public safety.

“However, everything must be done to make sure people feel they have the adequate means to find out public information that they feel they are entitled to. We are after all, servants of the public.”

Vale of Glamorgan council and Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council did not answer the request on the latest figures within the 20 day time limit.

And ironically, Ceredigion, Torfaen and Newport all refused to answer how many requests they had refused to answer over the past three years.

Under the current legislation there are many different exemptions that public bodies are allowed to use to deny access to sought-after information.

The most common are when personal information would be disclosed or if a body’s commercial interest were compromised.

Lesley Griffiths AM continued:

“I am also concerned at the amount of time is takes for some public bodies to answer requests in Wales.

“I know from my own experience and that from my fellow colleagues that the process can be slow and cumbersome and responses often come back long after the 20 day deadline that was set out by the act.

“Again in some cases, information takes a while longer to collate but there is no excuse for public bodies to simply drag their feet for the sake of it.”

The Freedom of Information request from the Assembly Labour Group also revealed that there were currently 336 outstanding Freedom of Information requests being dealt with by local authorities when the figures were published.

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