Case studies

These case studies describe actions taken by public authorities that have led to good FOI compliance, including new ways of working and increased proactive disclosure.

The studies are grouped by sector, but there may be useful learnings for your organisation in all of them.

Local government

• London Borough of Camden: Building a compliance culture, streamlining case handling processes
• London Borough of Camden: Business as usual responses
• North Lincolnshire: Using templates for correspondence
• Leicester City Council: Logging requests, prompt clarification and promotion of awareness
• Westmorland and Furness Council: Strengthening FOI/EIR compliance following a Practice Recommendation

Health and social care

• Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Building a compliance culture, setting internal deadlines and EIR upskilling
• Wye Valley NHS Trust: Triaging requests, effective guidance for staff and using templates
• NHS Blood and Transplant: senior level support, a designated team and clear processes
• Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust: senior leadership support and redesigned processes to increase level of accountability
• NHS Informatics Merseyside: networking for a wider impact

Central government

• Office of the Secretary of State for Wales and the Northern Ireland Office: sharing FOI services and using Excel to track requests

Other sectors including agencies, regulators and energy companies

• Training your staff about FOI (various authorities)
• Improvements after ICO enforcement action
• The ICO: Reducing our information requests backlog
• Ofgem: case management system and assigning request handling to relevant colleagues
• The Office for National Statistics: developing and using a casework system in-house
• The Met Office: dealing with an unexpected increase in requests
• National Audit Office: striving for excellence whilst handling complex, sensitive requests
• Yorkshire Water: improved data collection and proactive publication