MoD Access Service Team FOI compliance

Request

After information in regards to the current delays in providing FOI requests for military records.

1. How many staff are currently employed to complete this?
2. Have any plans been proposed to increase staff working on this to address the extensive delays?
3. What is the current estimate time for records requested in April 2024?
4. Are records being processed in order of request, if not why?
5. How many current records are not actioned / awaiting action?
6. What is the average time it is taking for a record to be provided from request?
7. What is the longest time between FOI request and closure?

Outcome

Information provided.

Response

You stated in the subject line of your email to The National Archives that you were ‘after information in regards to the current delays in providing FOI requests for military records.’

We have interpreted this request to relate to information concerning FOI requests for access to service personnel records that form part of the Ministry of Defence service records project: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/plans-policies-performance-and-projects/our-projects/ministry-of-defence-service-records/

• How many staff are currently employed to complete this?

37, as of the 8th of July (1 Head of MOD Access Service, 6 Access Service Managers, 17 Case Officers, 9 Access Service Advisors and 4 Request Service Advisors).

• Have any plans been proposed to increase staff working on this to address the extensive delays?

For details of our plans to improve our service, as well as ‘Lessons Learned’ (including proposed next steps for improvement) can be found here: FOI action plan – Freedom of Information

• What is the current estimate time for records requested in April 2024?

We do not hold information regarding a current estimate. However, individuals who made requests for access that were received by our service in April 2024 were at that time informed that an average waiting time for an FOI request was 9 months. However, this was an average, and some requests have taken longer than 9 months to resolve.

• Are records being processed in order of request, if not why?

General practice is to allocate cases in order of receipt.

How quickly they are processed is influenced by factors such as the complexity of the case, the ready availableness of the physical record to review, and/or organisational capacity.

• How many current records are not actioned / awaiting action?

The total number of unresolved FOI requests awaiting resolution on the 8th of July was 17,927.

• What is the average time it is taking for a record to be provided from request?

The average (mean) completion length for an FOI request is 74 working days (this is based on the entire average of all closed requests from the beginning of our service in 2021, including requests which are resolved on the day they are received).

The average (mean) completion length for an FOI request where all or some of a record has been provided to the requestor is 137 working days.

• What is the longest time between FOI request and closure?

The longest time between an FOI request being logged to our service and its closure date is 858 working days, as of the 8th of July. However, this is an outlier and not indicative of our service as a whole. Please note that we regularly resolve FOI requests on the same day they are received, if for instance we do not hold the requested information.

As a public authority which works under FOI legislation, we always endeavour to respond to FOI requests within statutory deadlines. However, due to the volume of requests we are receiving for MOD service personnel records, regretfully it is not always possible to meet these deadlines.

With over 17,000 active cases, we are working hard to clear our case backlog and to return to timely responses to FOI requests.