'Lord Houchen should be embarrassed' - Yorkshire Post investigation reveals Freedom of Information stats

According to The Information Commissioner’s Office, “the Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities.”

Our investigation found TVCA, which represents an area with a population of 677,100, had received 188 FOI requests in the period. It’s exactly the same number received by GMCA in the same period, although the population of Greater Manchester according to the Office for National Statistics is 2,867,900.

The next highest number was West Yorkshire Combined Authority (population: 2,351,600) with a total of 108 FOI requests, followed by West Midlands Combined Authority (population: 2,919,600) who received 83 FOI requests in the first seven months of this year.

It was also discovered that while GMCA has four members of staff who share the work of dealing with FOI requests, TVCA only has one.

It appears that the additional work required of TVCA has resulted in poorer performance, with only 81% of FOI requests getting a response within the statutory 20 day time limit - the worst of all the combined authorities.

Responding to The Yorkshire Post’s investigation, Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said: “We need the TVCA to be open and act in the interests of the public, not waste everyone’s time in an elaborate game of bureaucratic hide and seek.”

In the time period examined, TVCA also had the highest number of FOI responses that were sent for internal review. This is the process that is followed when the person requesting information is unsatisfied with the response they received. TVCA had 21 requests sent for internal review - the authority with the next highest number of internal reviews was The West of England Combined Authority who had 10.

The total of FOI requests received by TVCA does not include those submitted to its subsidiary South Tees Development Corporation (STDC), also led by Lord Houchen. Though a different legal entity, its staffing is similar to TVCA’s.

Twelve FOIs were submitted to STDC in the same time period via the website whatdotheyknow.com, although more are likely to have been submitted directly via email.

Referring to TVCA’s refusal to answer questions from The Yorkshire Post, Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said: “Lord Houchen of High Leven should be embarrassed by the Information Commissioner’s Office forcing the TVCA to answer a simple question regarding the Teesworks site.

“We need the TVCA to be open and act in the interests of the public, not waste everyone’s time in an elaborate game of bureaucratic hide and seek.”

Asked why they receive such a disproportionately large number of FOIs, TVCA said they don’t speculate on “people’s motivations” for submitting FOIs. Regarding the high number of people unsatisfied with the responses they get, once again TVCA said they “would not speculate” on the causes.

A spokesperson said: “We remain committed to responding to [FOIs] in a professional, open and transparent way”.