On Monday, The Times* reported that the Ministry of Justice has been unable to satisfactorily process a third of the enquiries it is obliged to answer under the Freedom of Information Act. The irony was highlighted by the Shadow Justice Secretary, Nick Herbert. He pointed out that it was the MoJ which introduced the legislation and blamed his government counterpart, questioning the commitment of the present establishment to open government as a result. In its defence, the Ministry has recognised the extent and seriousness of the problem and stated that it is working with the Information Commissioner's Office in taking steps to improve compliance to its FoI obligations.
Political sentiments aside, this demonstrates the continued information and records management difficulty that government institutions still face in fulfilling their statutory FoI obligation of transparency and accountability, a full four years after the legislation took effect and nine years after its introduction.
*Backlog in Freedom of Information requests grows. (2009, January 12). The Times, p. 18.
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