Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 May 2004
417 Ms Burton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the percentage of requests under the Freedom of Information Act which proceed to internal appeal in her Department; the way in which that percentage compares with the percentage in previous years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13310/04]
View answerThe annual number of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Acts received by my Department was 670 in 2002 and 593 in 2003. In 2002, 32 cases, or 4.8%, proceeded to internal appeal and in 2003, 15 cases, or 2.5%, proceeded to internal appeal. Some 155 requests were received in the first quarter of 2004 and no cases have proceeded to internal appeal in 2004 to date. Most requests received by my Department are granted in whole or in part, with just a small percentage of requests being refused in full — 11.6% in 2002; 11.3% in 2003 and 9.3% in 2004 to date. The following table outlines the total number of requests received each year since the inception of the Freedom of Information Act and the percentage that proceeded to internal appeal.
|
Year |
Number of requests received |
Number proceeding to internal appeal (%) |
|
1998 (from 21/4/98) |
286 |
13 (4.5%) |
|
1999 |
557 |
39 (7.0%) |
|
2000 |
645 |
32 (5.0%) |
|
2001 |
553 |
25 (4.5%) |
|
2002 |
670 |
32 (4.8%) |
|
2003 |
593 |
15 (2.5%) |
|
2004 |
155 |
0 (0%) |
418 Ms Burton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of requests under the Freedom of Information Act received by her Department in the first quarter of 2004; the way in which this compares with the number of FOI requests received in a similar period in previous years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13325/04]
View answerIn the first quarter of 2004, a total of 155 requests for information under the Freedom of Information Acts, 1997 and 2003 has been received by my Department. This compares with 183 received in 2002 and 187 in 2003. The table supplied outlines the number of requests received in the first quarter of each year by my Department since the commencement of the Freedom of Information Act.
|
Year |
Total Received |
|
1998 |
Not applicable |
|
1999 |
164 |
|
2000 |
175 |
|
2001 |
138 |
|
2002 |
183 |
|
2003 |
187 |
|
2004 |
155 |
My Department releases a great deal of information outside of FOI on a routine basis, especially in relation to personal information. For example, details held on our central records system pension forecasts, deciding officers' decisions on entitlement to benefits and any records that have been submitted to the Department by clients themselves are released to them as a matter of course. In addition, much information is available in published reports and/or provided on the Department's website. The majority of FOI requests to my Department are for personal information and there has not been any significant change in the numbers being received annually.
