Request
1. Please could you let me know whether FOI requests are dealt with in order of receipt? If not, what method is used to prioritise answering them?
2. Please could you let me know what proportion of requests from October 2023 have been dealt with already?
3. On what basis are updates sent to requesters on timescales? (With particular reference to my question below, with regard an update being sent to me saying that the requests were taking 6 months, 7 months after my request).
Outcome
Information provided.
Response
1. We deal with all requests as they are received into our queue. We have a triage function which organises our requests and responds to requesters in date order. Of course, the complexities of FOI legislation and the potential exemptions contained in the service personnel files of differing sizes, means we have developed processes which allow us to address both the oldest requests and incoming requests. With over 17,000 active cases, we are working extremely hard to clear our case backlog and to return to timely responses to FOI requests. You can read more about the challenge of providing access to this unique collection, and what we are doing to address the situation, at:
FOI action plan – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)
2. For FOI requests for personnel service records received in October 2023, 1343 of 2579 have been resolved as of 1st October 2024. As a percentage this is 52.07%.
3. Prior to the final decision notice, updates are sent to requestors on two occasions. The first update is sent as an initial acknowledgement of the request. The second update is sent on the 30th working day. In this second update, we currently provide requesters with the following regarding our timescales:
“Our current average timeline for records to be sent is ten to twelve months, which does not factor in any time that your request was with the MOD.”
Please note that we updated the estimated timeline for records in June 2024 to reflect our current average timeline. This differs from the previous estimation of six months which was provided to you in October 2023.