Deference for government and companies has gone, says ICO chief

And this is causing an increase in workload for the body

Graham: Be proactive about releasing data

The information commissioner Christopher Graham said that the number of freedom of information (FOI) requests would continue to rise until corporations and government start treating citizens as grown-ups.

The quango dealt with 30 per cent more data protection cases and 20 per cent more FOI requests in 2009/10 compared with 2008/9 and the rise is set to continue.

These figures were released in the Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO's) annual report published earlier this week.

Graham said: “A few years ago the technologists were in control. However, consumers and citizens are savvy, sophisticated and demanding now, and they don’t want to be patronised. The increase in demand for data and desire for protection of personal data are a reflection of this.”

He added: “This end to deference was made obvious by the expenses crisis, and it runs across all sectors.”

The ICO has been able to cope with its increased workload for a number of reasons: government departments are more used to dealing with FOI requests, meaning they require less work on behalf of the ICO; the body has seen an internal restructure which has made it more organised; and it has a low turnover of staff.

Graham also explained that the ICO has benefitted from "having teeth". He is referring to the Civil Monetary Penalty, which was introduced in April and allows the ICO to levy fines on companies for as much as £500,000.

One issue that is worrying the organisation – alongside many others in the public sector – is the public sector cuts due to be announced this autumn. The ICO currently receives £5.5m for FOI requests, and as it is clearly outside the NHS and international development, it will see some reduction. The data protection side of its work is funded by notification fees and is therefore safe.

Graham hopes that the cuts won’t be too deep, though: “Cameron referred to the ICO as central to the government’s transparency agenda, and this bodes well for us.

“However, the cutbacks in public authorities and Whitehall might cause problems for us in that the people we need to deal with aren’t there,” he added.

One tip Graham gives for cutting costs across government is to be proactive about releasing data. "Departments spend a lot of money fighting FOI with lawyers, court costs, and information tribunals. They would save money if they realised that this was a waste of resources."