Thomas was giving evidence to a constitutional affairs select
committee of Parliament earlier this year, when he conceded that
his office had not been as forceful in ensuring requests were
fulfilled as it could have been.
"We saw the first year as a learning year for ourselves as an
organisation and also for public bodies generally and we tried to
be reasonably tolerant, reasonably non-confrontational trying to
help public authorities get it right," he said in his evidence.
"We have resolved that we must be considerably tougher in some
respects as we go into the second and third year. We have already
started to show some signs of how we can be tougher using the range
of tools at our disposal," said Thomas.
The Committee's report, which has just been released, details
criticisms from witnesses of the Commissioner's office over delays
in having FOI requests fulfilled. "Long delays in accessing
information or having complaints resolved go against both the
spirit and the letter of the Act, and must be resolved," said
Committee chairman Alan Bleith MP. "Records management, and
particularly digital records management, must be improved."
The Committee also proposes putting the Commissioner's office
(ICO) under the direct control of Parliament, taking it out of the
control of the Department of Constitutional Affairs. "The Committee
is not convinced the relationship between DCA and the ICO is
working effectively," said a Committee statement. "It recommends
that the Government consider making the Information Commissioner
directly accountable to, and funded by, Parliament."
The Committee's report also revealed that the ICO, faced with a
backlog of cases, applied for £1.13 million in additional funding
at the end of 2005 and again in January 2006. The DCA eventually
provided £550,000 in extra funding, but only on a once off basis.
The Committee believes that it is not enough.
"We are surprised that the need for additional resources was not
identified earlier in 2005, before the backlog became such a
problem," said the Committee's report. "We are not convinced that
adequate resources have been allocated to resolve the problem, or
that they were allocated early enough."
The Committee strongly supported Thomas's assertion that his
office would adopt a more forceful approach to its work. "We
support the Commissioner's decision to adopt a firmer approach to
enforcement," said the report. "We expect to see him use his full
range of powers to improve compliance and reduce the delays being
experienced by requesters."
