Ealing Council to make FOI request log available by end of 2024 – EALING.NEWS – The Voice of Ealing 7 towns

Ealing Council is to display a freedom of information (FOI) request log on its website by the end of this year, after previously saying it would be ready by the end of 2023.

The move follows an ongoing challenge from Ealing Liberal Democrats to release the log, which will allow residents to search and see previous FOI requests made to the council.

While disclosure logs are not mandatory, it is considered good practice to provide them and allow members of the public to search FOI requests.

For over a year, Ealing Liberal Democrats have been pushing for Labour-led Ealing Council to allow residents to see past FOI requests that have been made and responded to.

Councils including Harrow, Barnet, Bexley and Tower Hamlets, as well as the Greater London Authority, produce a log showing and detailing previous FOI requests made.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday (23 July 2024), Ealing Lib Dem leader Cllr Gary Malcolm asked when it would be available as the council had previously said it would be vacated by the end of 2023.

Councilor Malcolm said: “Could the portfolio holder outline why a year without progress since the Labor administration’s commitment to publish an online freedom of information log in the Council on 13 June 2023, following the Liberal Democrat motion on the matter? “

In a response Cabinet Member for Inclusive Economy Councilor Steve Donnelly said: “We are committed to publishing a freedom of information journal that is accessible to all. But this is no small undertaking. Our Information Governance department has worked very hard together with the ICT team to complete advanced testing of a new system using artificial intelligence. This will allow a wide range of redacted responses to previous freedom of information inquiries to be searched.

“Initially, this will be used internally to ensure proper GDPR compliance before being released to the public. This will then provide an accessible system rather than a mere list, which would have been difficult to manage given the number of freedom of information requests we receive these days, some from far away, some from nearer to house, and would have done it. hard-to-access information that residents rightly want to be able to see.

“We expect to complete this complex exercise and publish the journal by the end of this calendar year.”

Following the council meeting, Councilor Malcom said: “The Liberal Democrats have been demanding this action from Labor for over a year, but we are saddened that it has taken over a year to agree to release this information in a more user-friendly way.”

He added: “We think that many changes to the council’s website, which affect users and residents, often don’t live up to the hype, so we think there should be feedback from some residents to check that it will what they say it will do.”