Information Regulator ICO Tells Us It Will Get Tough On Persistently Failing Councils

 

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“Will you be publishing data on councils or other public agencies who are repeated offenders on Freedom of Information requests (FOIs)? If you do already please let me know where it is. For example Bristol Council claims you said they don’t have to meet deadlines and could do a % of” Questions By Somerset Independents Leader Andrew Pope to Regulator ICO

 

Andrew Pope

Somerset Independents puts residents first. We find out the information that the Westminster political parties do not want you to know. We hold the Liberal Democrats, Tories, Labour and Greens to account. And we publish information for the benefit of Somerset residents.

There is a huge variation in how Somerset's councils deal with us.

We give a case study below of our investigations - led by our Leader Andrew Pope - since 2021 into councillors who did not pay their council tax.

Some are more secretive than others. Some councils are more obstructive. Some take more time than others. Some fail to meet their legal obligations. Some answer questions that we did not ask. And some are more helpful than others.

 

Who Are The ICO?

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) regulates requests for information from public authorities including councils. This is governed by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, brought in by the New Labour Government led by Tony Blair.

Because of the persistent failures by some councils, the ICO has pledged to get tough. We asked them some questions about the ICO publishing the details of repeat offenders. They have responded. And their response is very promising.

The ICO told us that they:

"would commit to delivering more systemic enforcement action against public authorities that clearly and consistently fail to meet their FOI obligations"

 

A Case Study: Councillors Who Did Not Pay Council Tax

Here is an example of the variation in FoI compliance by councils. During our investigations into councillors in council tax arrears, below is a comparison of the responses from Somerset's - and nearby Bath & Bristol - councils. Our FoI requests were very similar to each of the eight councils, in investigations that began in 2021 and some of which are still continuing:

• Sedgemoor District Council responded to say that no councillors had been in arrears
• Somerset West and Taunton responded and gave information about six councillors in arrears and two councillors who had been in persistent arrears. One repeatedly declined to answer our questions. The other paid up and then was removed from the council.
  
• Somerset County Council responded by saying that they did not hold the information and that it was for the district councils to check on councillors. In other words, they passed the buck. This led to us making representations to them on the serious implications for the standards set by their councillors and whether their budgets are set lawfully. We showed that one councillor had broken the law.
  
• Mendip District Council (MDC) responded and revealed that a councillor had been in arrears. The councillor refused to resign or answer questions. MDC declined to give other information. We had to complain to the ICO to get the other information. Once the ICO had enforced over MDC, the council revealed that the same councillor had been in arrears over more than one year.
• Bath and North East Somerset Council responded to say that their councillors had all paid up by the time of the 2022 Budget Full Council meeting. This was an interesting interpretation of our questions, which may lead to further questions from us.
  
• South Somerset District Council (SSDC) did not respond quickly. They declined to provide information. The names of councillors were covered up. We had to contact the ICO, who enforced their powers over SSDC. Over a year later, our complaint to the ICO is still under investigation.
  
• Bristol City Council did not respond. They had to be chased to even respond. We had to involve the ICO to even get a response. Then Bristol refused to give the information. We have had to complain to the ICO again. The ICO are investigating.
• North Somerset Council did respond, but it was late. And the information they gave was completely bungled, with one councillor's arrears being missing when asked by us to do it again. This led to an apology to us by the Leader of the Council Steve Bridger. Eventually, three councillors were named - not two. We had to pressure the head of legal at NSC to get proper answers. The information that NSC failed to provide was eventually revealed to us.
  

So you can see the variations in responses to FoI requests to eight different councils. To say again, the questions were very similar but the responses and how the councils responded, or whether they responded at all, were vastly different.

It has been reported more than once by BristolLive (a.k.a. the Bristol Post) that Bristol City Council (BCC) is failing on FoI requests. BCC has claimed in public that the ICO has allowed them to only make a percentage of responses (see our question above).

It is clear that the ICO have had enough of persistent offenders like Bristol and South Somerset District Council.

We hope that the ICO will be true to its word and this will lead to better compliance with the law by Somerset's councils.

Who Are Somerset Independents?

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future. 

Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page is here.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.