As of 16th October, 2015 the number of freedom of information requests received by my Department was 354. My Department's electronic system which records receipt and completion of freedom of information requests does not record whether the FOI request was completed within the original 20 working days or whether a further 20 day extension was required. However I can say that 82 per cent of freedom of information requests had response times within the requisite time limits.
I will be satisfied when the response time reaches 100% and in light of this situation, I have asked my Secretary General to prioritise clearance of the current backlog of requests. I am informed by my Secretary General that in addition to the team of people working almost full-time on these FoI requests, banking inquiry and Commission of Investigation requests, further full-time resources have been retained to work exclusively on the outstanding FoI requests including 8 additional Decision Makers being directed to focus on the current backlog, which will be cleared as soon as practicable.