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Stormont officials raised concerns about 'slimmed down' annual FOI report

Stormont Parliment Buildings. Picture Mal McCann
Stormont Parliment Buildings. Picture Mal McCann Stormont Parliment Buildings. Picture Mal McCann

CIVIL servants had expressed concern over a slimming down of Stormont's annual report on its Freedom of Information performance.

The annual reports examine the Northern Ireland Executive's handling of FOI requests, including how long departments take to respond.

The latest FOI annual report covers 2016 and was published in December.

However, the 10-page document contains less statistical detail than the reports released in previous years, which tended to stretch beyond 30 pages.

Among the changes, it no longer provides a breakdown of requests answered within 20 working days and those answered after a permitted deadline extension.

It also omits details of complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office.

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Internal correspondence obtained through FOI shows some officials had questioned the changes.

In one email in November, an official noted that the Department for Communities regarded "the slimmed down version as being a little 'light' on information".

A colleague responded saying they were constrained by the recommendations put forward a sub-group of the Information Management Council (IMC) – an internal body made up of departmental information assurance officials in the Civil Service.

In 2016, more than a quarter of processed requests to departments were not answered within the permitted time limit.

The Department for the Economy had the poorest record of answering FOI requests on time at 21 per cent, followed by about 50 per cent for The Executive Office (TEO).

When asked earlier this year why the report's format had been changed, TEO did not respond.

But a TEO spokesman yesterday said it was "redesigned and streamlined to make it more user-friendly and focused on key statistical information".

"This new approach took a number of months to develop and complete and during that time, it is only to be expected that differing views were expressed," he said.

"The final FOI annual report was signed off by all members of the IMC."