§ The Earl of Northeskasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in the first month of its operation were responded to with holding answers. [HL1123]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)Government departments collect information on those freedom of information (FOI) requests which are referred to their central practitioners for consideration. Departments are required to monitor such requests and provide details of how they have been dealt with, including information on the number of cases where a holding reply has been sent to extend the 20-day deadline for consideration of the public interest, to my department on a quarterly basis. My department will publish its first report on these statistics in late Spring 2005 and copies will be placed in the House Libraries.
Statistics on the number of times the 20-day deadline has been extended for consideration of the public interest by all public authorities are not held centrally. However, of those requests referred to the FOI practitioner within my department, which were due for answer by 1 February, the deadline was extended in one case to consider the public interest.