LESS than half of all Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister were answered within the 20 working days deadline set by the Information Commissioner.
The details were released in the Northern Ireland Assembly by DUP chief, Arlene Foster, showing that between 2011 and June this year just 49% of 373 Freedom of Information answers were replied to within the deadline.
First Minister Foster was replying to a question from UUP Strangford MLA, Philip Smith, who also revealed that the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister, “found itself at top of the list of complaints made to the Information Commissioner about Executive Departments”.
In response Mrs Foster said that the requests to OFMDFM were often “sensitive and many are very political in nature”.
The First Minister said that systems are being improved and a weekly review of performance was now in place.