The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has taken action against the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business after “persistent” failures to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.

The action marks the first time in seven years the ICO has issued a Freedom of information enforcement notice, which was given to the trade department.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was issued a practice recommendation.

UK information commissioner John Edwards said the move marks the start of the ICO’s new approach to regulating the FOI Act.

“Accountability and transparency in the work of public authorities is fundamental to democracy and it is the ICO’s role to ensure that people’s right to access information is protected,” said the information commissioner. “I advise public authorities to take note and learn lessons from the action we have taken today, as we will be making greater use of our powers under the Act to drive good practice and compliance.”

The ICO found that between January and March this year, the DIT issued late responses to more than half of requests. The department had the worst response figures for the whole of central government.

The ICO said that BEIS “consistently failed to respond to a significant number of the information access requests” received within the statutory time limit.

BEIS has recorded a 55 per cent increase in requests since 2020, unlike DIT which received relatively stable numbers of requests in a similar period.

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