Annual Freedom of Information Report Financial Year 2021-22
North Lanarkshire Council · 30 November 2022
Back to Finance and Resources Committee — 30 November 2022 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Finance and Resources Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref NM/EH Date 30/11/22 Annual Freedom of Information Report Financial Year 2021/22 From Archie Aitken, Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions E-mail aitkena@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07939 280102 Executive Summary This report provides details of Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information (EIR) requests received by the Council during 2021/22 and provides further comparative and ancillary information. Recommendations It is recommended that the Finance and Resources Committee review the report. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Enhance participation, capacity, and empowerment across our communities Ambition statement (20) Improve the involvement of communities in the decisions, and development of services and supports, that affect them
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1. Background 1.1 The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, both of which came into force in January 2005, provide rights to the public to ask for and be provided with recorded information held by public authorities. By way of further explanation, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, sit alongside the FOI Act and govern access to environmental information such as planning information, contaminated land, emissions etc. Once a request is received, the Council has in most cases, 20 working days to provide the information asked for, or explain why it cannot be provided. If the Council does not respond, or the requester is unhappy with the response, the requester can ask for an internal review. If the requester is still dissatisfied following the internal review they can then appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. This report provides a breakdown of the requests, internal reviews and appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner processed by the Council in 2021/22. 2. Report 2.1 In financial year 2021/22 North Lanarkshire Council received 1,412 requests for information. This consisted of 1,129 FOI requests and 283 EIR requests. 2.2 The 2021/22 total of 1,412 requests is a 13% increase on the 2020/21 total of 1,245 and a 8% decrease on the 2019/20 total of 1,536. As outlined in last year's report, the Covid pandemic caused a reduction in the typical number of requests received by the Council in a year. This year's total indicates that request volumes are returning to the levels seen before the pandemic. 2.3 Regarding the source of requests for information, most were recorded as being from "public and other" which are members of the public and those who have no identifiable affiliation to a particular organisation, group or company. 43% of requests were received in this category. The other significant categories of requesters was businesses and commercial enterprises (17%), media (12%), elected representatives (10%) and solicitors (8%). While this year's figures show an increase in requests received from the media and decreases in the numbers received from solicitors and elected representatives, these proportions are broadly similar to those seen in previous years. 2.4 25 requests for internal review of the original decision were received in 2021/22. This compares with 22 requests for review received in 2020/21 and reflects the increase in the number of requests received in 2021/22. 2.5 Of the 25 internal reviews, in 18 of the cases the original decision was either wholly or partially upheld or deemed compliant. In 3 cases the original decision was overturned and received a fresh decision at review. 2 reviews were undertaken because there was no response to the original request and 2 cases were withdrawn by the requester during the review process. 2.6 Following internal review, one case has been appealed by the requester to the Scottish Information Commissioner. The Commissioner is still investigating this appeal and the outcome will be provided in next year's report. 2.7 Of the 1,412 requests received in 2021/22, 34 were not fully progressed due to factors such as the clarification required to progress the request not being received or the requester withdrawing their request. Of the remaining 1,378 requests that were fully
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progressed, 1,358 requests (98.5%) were responded to within the statutory deadline. This compares with a compliance rate of 95.3% in 2020/21 and 97.8% in 2019/20. The 2021/22 compliance rate broken down by quarter is as follows:- Quarter 1 – 98.3% Quarter 2 – 98.2% Quarter 3 – 98.6% Quarter 4 – 99% 3. Measures of success 3.1 The Scottish Information Commissioner's self-assessment toolkit for public authorities on responding to requests on time, considers a response rate to requests of 96-100% as excellent, 85-95% as good, 80-84% as adequate and less than 80% as unsatisfactory. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 – total number of requests received under either the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, broken down by month. Appendix 2 – an indication of the category of applicant. Appendix 3 – details of cases submitted for internal review. Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
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Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed?
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Appendix 1 NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL REQUESTS RECEIVED UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002/ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004 Applications Received 2021/2022 Month Ending 31 March 2022 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2021 Jan 2022 Feb Mar Total FOI Requests 71 111 107 96 94 84 100 124 57 85 104 96 1129 EIR Requests 20 27 24 25 26 21 29 42 10 22 17 20 283 TOTAL – 2021/2022 91 138 131 121 120 105 129 166 67 107 121 116 1412 Applications Received 2005/2006 – 2020/2021 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Total TOTAL – 2020/2021 66 74 117 143 107 108 107 154 90 86 102 91 1245 TOTAL – 2019/2020 146 141 126 150 138 116 127 146 83 138 131 94 1536 TOTAL – 2018/2019 125 109 132 154 133 138 170 143 91 195 125 137 1652 TOTAL – 2017/2018 111 101 122 128 145 92 163 167 79 137 155 134 1534 TOTAL – 2016/2017 119 127 105 128 113 120 110 142 99 148 131 151 1493 TOTAL – 2015/2016 111 94 124 109 102 107 133 127 58 119 135 126 1345 TOTAL – 2014/2015 117 112 93 150 120 91 125 113 93 145 103 126 1388 TOTAL – 2013/2014 86 87 88 125 97 79 91 77 71 159 101 108 1169 TOTAL – 2012/2013 84 96 85 114 86 89 167 113 74 124 105 103 1240 TOTAL – 2011/2012 66 75 100 127 89 96 98 107 79 132 139 118 1226 TOTAL – 2010/2011 66 67 97 102 62 88 223 91 77 107 86 82 1148 TOTAL – 2009/2010 63 65 71 100 69 76 82 89 50 105 74 106 950 TOTAL – 2008/2009 76 65 43 93 43 89 103 67 49 92 75 74 869 TOTAL – 2007/2008 36 34 41 67 61 39 41 43 33 64 83 78 620 TOTAL – 2006/2007 35 77 39 38 41 34 61 57 45 64 58 56 605 TOTAL – 2005/2006 34 34 34 34 88 39 39 42 30 41 85 63 563
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Appendix 2 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002 ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004 Requests by type of Requestor - 2021/2022 Media Solicitor (on behalf of client) Commercial /Private Enterprise Voluntary / Campaign Organisation Elected Representative (MP, MSP, MEP, Councillor) Trade Union Academic / Student Public & Other Total April 12 5 14 6 1 1 3 49 91 May 13 20 32 10 0 0 2 61 138 June 15 10 12 4 19 2 8 61 131 July 10 11 20 10 11 1 1 57 121 August 10 7 22 5 16 2 3 55 120 September 18 5 12 5 14 1 0 50 105 October 8 17 20 4 26 0 2 52 129 November 22 11 51 6 11 0 2 63 166 Dec – 21 6 4 5 5 6 5 4 32 67 Jan – 22 15 6 22 5 11 1 2 45 107 February 24 8 21 7 14 1 5 41 121 March 16 13 15 12 9 1 3 47 116 Total 169 117 246 79 138 15 35 613 1412
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Requests by type of Requestor - 2014/2015 – 2020/2021 Media Solicitor (on behalf of client) Commercial /Private Enterprise Voluntary / Campaign Organisation Elected Representative (MP, MSP, MEP, Councillor) Trade Union Academic / Student Public & Other Total 2020/2021 119 143 212 62 165 8 19 517 1245 2019/2020 277 110 278 75 149 29 42 576 1536 2018/2019 334 137 277 93 147 34 27 603 1652 2017/2018 260 131 268 86 192 36 25 536 1534 2016/2017 227 181 223 68 187 24 19 564 1493 2015/2016 217 193 192 54 168 14 19 488 1345 2014/2015 264 164 211 56 115 17 28 533 1388
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Appendix 3 Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 2021/22 - Requests for Review of Original Decision. Received Expiry Response Subject Decision 13/05/2021 11/06/2021 11/06/2021 Council Tax Arrears Upheld (Partially) 01/06/2021 29/06/2021 23/06/2021 Registered Deaths Overturned 02/06/2021 30/06/2021 30/06/2021 Old Edinburgh Road Compliant with EIR 11/06/2021 09/07/2021 07/07/2021 Trees in Kilsyth Compliant with EIR 17/06/2021 15/07/2021 Withdrawn Core paths Withdrawn 24/06/2021 22/07/2021 20/07/2021 Mental Health Officers Upheld (Wholly) 28/07/2021 26/08/2021 26/08/2021 Certificate of lawfulness Compliant with EIR 02/08/2021 30/08/2021 30/08/2021 Millcroft Road Compliant with EIR 28/07/2021 26/08/2021 19/08/2021 Planning Applications Compliant with EIR 18/08/2021 15/09/2021 30/09/2021 Compulsory Purchase Order Upheld Wholly 09/09/2021 07/10/2021 Withdrawn Municipal Bank Withdrawn 09/09/2021 07/10/2021 07/10/2021 Print and Post Upheld (Partially) 13/10/2021 10/11/2021 22/11/2021 Library Services Overturned 04/11/2021 03/12/2021 03/12/2021 ASNA provision Overturned
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18/11/2021 17/12/2021 17/12/2021 Shotts Town Centre Compliant with EIR 09/12/2021 12/01/2022 05/01/2022 School Guidance Document Upheld (Wholly) 22/12/2021 25/01/2022 25/01/2022 Community Renewal Fund Upheld (Wholly) 31/12/2021 01/02/2022 01/02/2022 St. Enoch’s Clock Upheld (Wholly) 14/01/2022 11/02/2022 26/01/2022 Bullying 1st time decision 17/01/2022 14/02/2022 14/02/2022 Stepps Primary School Upheld (Wholly) 14/03/2022 11/04/2022 11/04/2022 Landlord Register Upheld (Wholly 22/03/2022 20/04/2022 20/04/2022 Allotments Upheld (Wholly) 07/04/2022 09/05/2022 09/05/2022 Clyde FC Upheld (Wholly) 10/04/2022 10/05/2022 10/05/2022 Covid Grants 1st time decision 17/04/2022 16/05/2022 16/05/2022 Clyde FC Upheld (Partially)