§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what action his Department is taking to deal with delays experienced by applicants under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. [186608]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Government take any delays experienced by applicants under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information seriously.
The Government regret that delays do unavoidably occur in a minority of complex cases. However, the Ombudsman's review of the first nine months of the Memorandum of Understanding (September 2003 to May 2004) shows that in most cases the requirements of the Memorandum of Understanding were met.
In all cases, Departments endeavour to ensure that the time limit of 20 working days for Departments to respond to requests for information is met.
Compliance with the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information is monitored annually and published in the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information Monitoring Report.