Scottish councils reject nearly one in four FOI requests

Nearly one in four freedom of information (FOI) requests submitted to Scottish local authorities in 2014 were refused, new figures show.

The figures, collected from 16 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, show a rejection rate of 23.7 per cent, up by 4.7 per cent on 2010 — and a record high rejection rate of 59.7 per cent on City of Edinburgh Council.

Calum Liddle, a researcher at the University of Strathclyde , said: “The taxpayer is fast losing the right to know as a result of certain councils overlooking – perhaps even disregarding – the need for transparency.

“Freedom of information is an essential democratic instrument but the findings suggest a fragmented rights landscape.”

Mr Liddle asked each council for information about the number of FOI requests they refused and received responses from 16 of them. His figures show a total of 79,890 requests between 2010-14, with 16,609 rejected.

Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, local authorities can reject FOI requests if the authority estimates that “the cost of complying with the request” would exceed £450.

Requests can also be refused if the information is not held, it is exempt from FOI legislation, or the request is “vexatious”.

A spokesperson for City of Edinburgh Council said that the council “release as much information as possible to applicants to ensure transparency and accountability”.

A spokesperson for local government association COSLA added: “Local government is under attack from some who wish to use FOI wrongly as a tool to beat us.”