Publication
Annual Report 2023
From Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC)
Published on
Last updated on
37,437 FOI requests made to public bodies in 2023
The Information Commissioner, Ger Deering, has criticised the over reliance on external legal advisers by a small number of public bodies when responding to requests for access to records under the Freedom of Information Act.
In his annual report for 2023 , published today, [27 June] Mr Deering highlighted a growing trend by a small number of public bodies to ‘contract out’ their decision-making on FOI requests to external legal advisers. Mr Deering said that this trend was concerning as it can result in the public not being given access to records to the “greatest extent possible” as provided for under the FOI Act.
Mr Deering added:
“I have seen a number of cases where this practice has resulted in a public body using a broad range of exemptions to refuse an FOI request - some of which were tenuous at best.”
Full media release here.
