The Metropolitan Police has been accused of showing a “casual attitude” towards transparency after newly published figures revealed it routinely fails to answer a fifth of Freedom of Information requests on time.
Public bodies are required to answer Freedom of Information requests within 20 working days, however the Met is consistently failing to meet this statutory deadline.
In 2012 its best compliance rate was 85% for June when it received 336 requests, its worst performance came in May when it answered just 73% of the 373 requests received on time. In May 2013 compliance fell to 70%.
In the year to date the force has answered just 78% of requests within the deadline.
The figures were provided by Mayor Boris Johnson in answer to a question from the Liberal Democrat group on the London Assembly.
Group leader Caroline Pidgeon AM said the force was showing “such a casual attitude in answering freedom of information requests” and was failing to meet “basic legal requirements in more than one in five requests they receive.”
She added: “The Met should set an example in observing the law, sadly they have an appalling record in implementing legislation that has been in existence for over 13 years.”
Ms Pidgeon called on Deputy Mayor for Policing Stephen Greenhalgh to intervene and ensure the force is “obeying the law of the land.”
Met’s FOI compliance figures:
2012:
January 81% (420 requests received)
February 80% (403)
March 79% (413)
April 83% (317)
May 73% (373)
June 85% (336)
July 81% (291)
August 82% (306)
September 80% (257)
October 75% (352)
November 85% (436)
December 81% (233)
2013:
January 78% (370 requests received)
February 83% (369)
March 80% (372)
April 71% (354)
May 70% (347)
June 80% (374)
July 84% (418)
August 78% (385)
