Scottish Information Commissioner publishes Annual Report

Scottish Information Commissioner publishes Annual Report

The Scottish public has welcomed freedom of information in its first year of operation in Scotland according to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

That is one of the main conclusions of the Annual Report of the Scottish Information Commissioner published on 22 February 2006.

Highlights of the report include:

• Public awareness of FOI is up by 64%
• The Commissioner received 571 appeals and almost 2,500 enquiries in 2005
• 55% of appeals were from ordinary members of public
• 7% of appeals were from journalists and 20% from solicitors
• 18% of appeals were about authorities failing to respond at all to a request

During 2005, the Scottish Information Commissioner received 571 appeals, the majority from ordinary members of the public about the response by Scottish public authorities to their information requests. This was twice as many as the highest previous estimate. He disposed of 240 cases in 2005, 79% of these within 4 months, which compares favourably with other countries where freedom of information legislation is in place.

Copies of the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Annual Report 2005 can be accessed here: www.itspublicknowledge.info/aboutus/annualreport2005.htm.

Scots embrace freedom of information (egovmonitor, 23 February 2006)