More than 200 Freedom of Information requests sitting in Sheffield Council’s backlog

The public has a right to information held by public bodies like the council under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Documents, figures, correspondence and other data can be obtained by formally asking the council and by law the authority should respond within 20 working days.

But the council has struggled to keep on top of the workload since the service closed down for four months during the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the pause, the backlog hit 300 requests in autumn 2020 as a result.

Councillor Douglas Johnson, leader of Sheffield Green Party, asked council leader Terry Fox for the most recent details on the backlog in the latest full council meeting.

Coun Fox said there were currently 206 requests in the backlog, of which 10 related to the controversial tree felling scandal.

Council record management under scrutiny

The council’s record management came under fire recently following the publication of a long-awaited investigation into how it dealt with FOI requests relating to the tree felling scandal.

Law firm Bevan Brittan, which carried out the investigation, could not confirm whether the council always followed FOI law because the authority lost or mislaid too many key documents.

Interviews with officers at different levels of seniority revealed a lack of clarity around who was responsible for FOI decisions and what the process of handling requests was.

Sheffield Tree Action Group said Bevan Brittan’s report exposed an “astonishing absence of basic records management”.

The authority was told to improve its record management system, processes and training for all employees.