Freedom of Information (Time for Compliance with Request) Regulations 2009

The purpose of these draft regulations is to allow certain schools and pupil referral units in Northern Ireland more time to respond to freedom of information requests to take account of closure during school holidays. The Freedom of Information Act enshrined in law for the first time the right of access to official information. The Act applies to over 100,000 public authorities. Since the Act came into force on 1 January 2005, central government-monitored bodies have received more than 30,000 requests each year and requests to public authorities in the wider public sector exceed 87,000 per year. Under the Act, freedom of information requests must be responded to "promptly" and normally within 20 working days. It is right that people making requests should receive a timely response. Eighty-two per cent of requests received by central government-monitored bodies during the period January 2005 to December 2008 were answered within 20 days. However, there are limited occasions when that deadline is impractical. That is why, in the lead-up to the introduction of the Act during 2004, regulations were laid to extend the deadline for answering requests for specific public authorities in certain limited circumstances. Those 2004 regulations extended the usual 20-working-day limit in relation to: maintained schools in England and Wales and schools maintained by the Secretary of State for Defence, to take account of closure during school holidays; archives, to deal with requests for information contained in a public record that has been transferred in a closed file because one of the freedom of information exemptions applies; requests where information needs to be obtained from front-line units of the Armed Forces and they cannot be reached for operational reasons; and requests involving information that is held outside the UK and will take some time to retrieve. The regulations would give certain Northern Ireland schools and units the same reasonable allowance that schools in England and Wales already have under the 2004 regulations. Currently, controlled schools, voluntary schools, grant-maintained integrated schools and pupil referral units in Northern Ireland can face difficulties in answering requests received during holiday periods when schools are closed and unstaffed. That is a particular issue during summer holidays, which can last about eight weeks and therefore longer than the 20 working days permitted for a response. These schools and units in Northern Ireland may, therefore, be put in a position where they will unavoidably be unable to comply with the time limits provided for under the Act. That is simply not sensible. Section 10 of the Act requires public authorities to deal with freedom of information requests "promptly" and in any event within 20 working days of receipt. If the regulations are approved, managers of certain Northern Ireland schools and pupil referral units would not have to count any day that is not a school day, such as during the school holidays, towards the period of 20 working days within which requests must be answered. However, requests must be answered within a maximum of 60 working days in total, including any school holiday periods. Schools will still have an obligation to respond to requests promptly. Where it is possible for a school to respond to a request earlier, the response cannot be delayed until the end of the extended time limit. The regulations will ensure that certain schools and units in Northern Ireland will have more time to deal with information requests when they need it most. It will also place schools in Northern Ireland on a comparable footing with their counterparts in England and Wales. I therefore commend the regulations to the Committee. I beg to move.