The council has improved its response rate to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests after an audit found significant weaknesses.

An FOI request previously revealed that a quarter of requests sent to Reading Borough Council (RBC) were not responded to in full within the statutory 20-working-day deadline last year.

Matt Davis, assistant director of finance, has now revealed that the council has improved this to 87 per cent in the last financial quarter.

Mr Davis presented an internal audit report at the Audit and Governance committee meeting on Thursday, September 19.

The report found officers “do not always view FOIs as a priority” and “are minded to avoid dealing with them within required timescales”.

Councillor Richard Davies agreed with the findings but said he thinks the council “has done pretty well till now” in dealing with “a huge number” of FOIs.

RBC received 1,451 freedom of information requests (FOIs) in 2018 and did not respond in full to 380, or 26 per cent, within 20 working days.

The report concluded that there is a need for:

  • Better tracking and reminders to staff of approaching deadlines
  • Closer monitoring of performance
  • Proactive publication of information known to attract frequent requests.

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Councillors Ellie Emberson and Tony Page both said all FOIs to be published on the website, not just frequently requested information.

Cllr Page said only about 10-15 per cent of FOIs are for what the original campaign intended, with an overwhelming amount from businesses, but added “that doesn’t mean we don’t have a duty”.

Jason Collie, who sent the FOI that revealed the failures, said the committee’s debate of the investigation into the council’s FOI response rate was “a bit of a back-slapping exercise”.

He said: “I found Cllr Davies’ comment absolutely staggering.

“Would he consider a 75 per cent collection of council tax doing quite well?”

He added: “It is positive they have gone up to 87 per cent.”

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The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) first came into effect in 2005.

It is often used by campaigners and journalists, but anyone is allowed to request information.

You can request any sort of information from any public body, such as the council, police, or fire service.

Although there are some exemptions, public bodies are legally obliged to give you the requested information.

You can send a FOI request to RBC by emailing: FOI@reading.gov.uk