Council 'will review its policies' on FOI requests (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Council 'will review its policies' on FOI requests

7:50am Thursday 28th February 2013 in News By William Tomaney

AN INTERNAL review will take place at Worcestershire County Council into how the authority deals with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

The announcement by council leader, Conservative Adrian Hardman, followed a call from The Shuttle after the authority refused an FOI request from Kidderminster Gallery Friends without offering the applicant the opportunity to pay to find the information.

The council is entitled refuse a request if it would take staff more than 18 hours to comply with it but Mr Hardman said: “We strive to be as open and transparent as possible.”

He added: “However, this recent request has brought to my attention an area of our current policy the council will now review internally.

“While it would not be fair to burden taxpayers with any such cost, I do think we need to reassess the possibility of giving people the option of paying for an FOI that would take more than 18 hours.”