Written question asked by Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 7 July 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 July 2009. It was answered by Lord Wills (Labour) on Monday, 13 July 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Information Commissioner's Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to enable the Information Commissioner's office to reduce the length of time taken for the determination of complaints.

Answer: The Ministry of Justice and the Information Commissioner regularly review the resources required for the commissioner to discharge all of his freedom of information responsibilities. For this financial year, the Government have identified additional funding of £500,000 for the Information Commissioner's office's freedom of information work, over and above the baseline funding of £5 million. We are discussing with the office how it can use this additional funding most effectively to reduce the number of outstanding cases.In addition, the MOJ promoted a scheme last year where secondees from central Government Departments work for the ICO to help clear the freedom of information cases at their home departments' expense. There are currently seven secondees working at the ICO.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 496 c85W; 285811
Session: 2008-09
Subjects: Complaints Administrative delays Information Commissioner's Office
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk