Who decides what constitutes a legitimate FoI request?

Who decides what constitutes a legitimate FoI request?

How many premises across Hampshire are licensed to sell kittens is not a legitimate inquiry, says Ken Thornber.

When is a Freedom of Information (FOI) inquiry a legitimate question and when is an inquiry an outright waste of public money – as well as a trying test of the patience of those of us working in the public sector?

There's no doubt that the reputation of public servants is under scrutiny – perhaps justifiably as evidenced by the revelations that came out of the MPs expenses scandal.

Since April 2009, Hampshire county council is well on the way to dealing with 500 requests – a 60% increase on the previous 12 months. I worry about the cost and the consequences as staff divert their attention from delivering services to delving for statistics. The council spends at least £50,000 a year dealing with FOI requests, and that's just the tip of the iceberg regarding staff costs.

When the Freedom of Information Act was passed five years ago, the council embraced the new legislation and learned a lot about the sorts of things the public want to know – much of which we now routinely make available.

But I boil over with rage when my staff are tasked with identifying the number and cost of Fairtrade teabags that have been immersed in hot water on council premises in the previous financial year (0.2p per council taxpayer per annum), and the number of biscuits (plain and chocolate) that were supplied at council meetings.

There have been many other ridiculous requests. In addition to teabags and biscuits, my list of the most pointless ones so far includes what we spent on fireworks, alcohol, Christmas decorations (do people really expect us not to put them in residential care homes or children's homes?); how many premises across the county are licensed to sell puppies and kittens; the number of mortuaries set aside for swine flu deaths; and a list of every piece of art we have commissioned in the last five years, including from schools.

The question on my mind is whether the public sector is being asked to put political correctness above common sense as it struggles to answer some of these more "challenging" FOI requests in an even-handed way.

I no longer believe that my staff should be spending their precious time on such spurious requests. I believe we should explain to the inquirer at the outset the lengths to which we will have to go to get the information and, if they persist, we should have the courage of our convictions and refuse to answer the inquiry. It should be left to the information commissioner to adjudicate as to whether the inquiry is a legitimate cost on the public purse and in the public interest.

• Ken Thornber is leader of Hampshire county council

We need a commonsense approach to Freedom of Information requests - Instead of delivering services, council staff are delving for statistics – many of them ridiculous (The Guardian, 20 Januray 2010)