Council / Health board and council under scrutiny for FOI response times
THE SCOTTISH Information Commissioner is undertaking intervention work with NHS Shetland and Shetland Islands Council over their performance in responding to freedom of information (FOI) requests.
The intervention is classed as ‘level one’, which is the lowest level.
Under FOI legislation people have the right to request information from public organisations in Scotland, such as councils and health boards.
All requests should be reviewed and responded to in no more than 20 working days, but it is not uncommon for this target to be missed.
The message from both the council and NHS in recent years is that an increased number of FOI requests is putting a burden on already busy staff.
One factor is blanket FOI requests that some people may put out for example to health boards or councils across Scotland, including political parties.
A report for a meeting of the NHS Shetland board on Tuesday said the intervention from the Scottish Information Commissioner comes as FOI compliance remains “unsatisfactory”.
In the third quarter of 2025/26 only 38.7 per cent of a total of 193 FOI requests to NHS Shetland were completed within the target timescale.
It says that the commissioner is due to visit Shetland in February to meet with NHS Shetland chief executive Brian Chittick.
The report said that although overdue requests have reduced slightly, pressure on services and the NHS Shetland information governance team continues, “with additional resources and training now being progressed to improve performance”.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, NHS Shetland’s head of planning Lucy Flaws said there remains a “sustained high volume of requests” which is putting pressure on staff.
Meanwhile Shetland Islands Council is reporting an improving picture, with an 83 per cent response rate within 20 working days in the second quarter of 2025/26, rising to 89 per cent in quarter three.
The council was contacted for a comment on the intervention from the Scottish Information Commissioner, but no response has yet been received.
However a report set to go in front of the SIC’s policy and resources committee later this week said the council was notified of the stage one intervention on 11 December.
It added: “The commissioner contacts Scottish public authorities where poor performance is identified through submitted statistics to gain a better understanding of what may have led to a drop in performance.
“Interventions are not intended to penalise authorities for poor practice but to support them in improving performance, including by identifying and resolving any internal issues that are impacting on that performance.”
The report said the commissioner is due to visit the council in quarter four of 2025/26, with discussions set to assess whether any further intervention is required.
There is also ongoing work being carried out by consultants to analyse information governance and records management procedures.
The issue was also raised during a meeting of the SIC’s education and families committee on Monday morning, with a 24 per cent increase in FOI requests to children’s services between quarter two and three of 2025/26.
Councillors were told that some FOI requests can be complex, and will need more resource – and therefore time.
Chief executive Maggie Sandison also highlighted the workload associated with FOI requests which ask for correspondence.
More generally, she said one way of addressing demand is by making more information routinely public which is the council looking to do.
Shetland North member Andrew Hall said “to me it shows a communication problem” and suggested the situation with the Dunroness Primary School demolition work could be behind the rise in requests to children’s services.
He said the SIC needs to make sure the community is not being forced down the route of FOIs to access information they believe should be available.
There is bill going through the parliament to strengthen FOI in Scotland, which proposes that it is a statutory requirement to appoint an FOI officer within public authorities.
There is also a proposed presumption in favour of disclosure when exemptions are being considered by public authorities.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
