I propose to take Questions Nos. 122 and 123 together.
From the beginning of this year to 29 November, my Department received 325 requests under the Freedom of Information Act of which 50 were fully granted, 117 were partially granted, 87 were refused (including 60 where no records were held), 8 were transferred to other public bodies, 10 were withdrawn and 5 were handled outside of FOI. 48 requests are currently ongoing and replies will issue in due course.
A total of 160 requests were completed within four weeks of receipt. Replies issued outside the normal four week deadline in the remaining 117 requests for a variety of reasons. Some cases involved a large number of records, third party consultation was necessary in some cases and in some instances the deadline was extended by short periods by agreement with the requesters. My Department is committed to meeting its obligations under the FOI Act 2014, including responding to FOI requests within the specified timeframes, and makes every effort to ensure that the level of late replies is kept to the minimum.