By Jamie Shapiro, Local Democracy Reporter
Southampton City Council’s Freedom of Information Request and Environmental Information Request response times have increased by four days from last year (20/21) - but they’re still within the accepted time frame of 20 days.
Public bodies such as councils, the fire service and the police have a legal obligation to respond to anybody who requests information, providing the information doesn’t jeopardise safety or security and providing it isn’t too expensive to acquire.
They are expected to respond to requests within 20 days.
Last year the council received 1,103 requests and its average response time was 17 days. This was up from 13 days the year before.
However the authority says this was caused by the pandemic.
Overall, there were 68 fewer requests than the year before.
The most common area that the public was interested in was schools and education, which received 49 requests.
The general public made 60% of requests, with the coming from businesses, the media, and other organisations.
There were 11 complaints about responses to requests, and one appeal.
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