International Law

The Information Commissioner's annual report has been published. The report gives the following figures for the office's FOI casework:

Received - 2,646
Closed - 2,658
Caseload carried forward to 2008/09 - 1,363

The 1,363 cases carried forward are made up of 950 cases received in 2007/08 and 413 cases carried forward from previous years.

Of the 2,646 cases received during 2007/08:
Closed 30 days or less - 51%
Closed 31-90 days - 6%
Closed closed 91-180 days - 3%
Closed 181-365 days - 4%
Open - 36%

Age of cases carried forward into 2008/09:
0-30 days - 6%
31-90 days - 15%
91-180 days - 15%
181-365 days - 32%
One yr to 18 mnths - 15%
18 mnths to 2 yrs - 10%
More than 2 yrs - 7%

Outcome of cases closed:
Informally resolved - 48%
Ineligible eg no internal review, out of time or undue delay - 33%
Decision notice served - 14%
No action required by ICO or complaint withdrawn - 1%
Other - 4%

Outcome of decision notices:
Partly upheld eg ICO ordered some disclosure but not all - 45%
Complaint upheld - 30%
Complaint not upheld - 25%

Appeals to the Information Tribunal:
Total appeals since January 2005 (from a total of 922 decision notices) - 235
Appeals caseload as at 31.3.08 (open cases) - 73

Completed outcome Tribunal appeals:
ICO decision upheld - 53% (85)
ICO decision overturned or varied - 28% (46)
Appeals withdrawn - 19% (31)

Parties appealing:
Complainants 71% (167)
Public authorities 29% (68)

Download the full report (Pdf)

Full post as published by UK Freedom of Information Act Blog on July 16, 2008 (boomark / email).