Wolverhampton Council accused of hiding information

Wolverhampton City Council was today accused of a lack of transparency after it admitted refusing to answer nearly 20 per cent of all public requests for information.

Officials would not respond to 105 separate questions placed by taxpayers under the Freedom of Information Act last year.

The lack of transparency was today blasted by campaigners who said residents were being deliberately kept in the dark about key issues and expenses.

Councillor Milkinder Jaspal, Labour's Heath Town representative who has campaigned for greater openness in local government, said: "This is a nonsense and it is very disappointing.

"People believe the council is keeping them in the dark, and they are right.

"Staff are hiding behind confidentiality or the cost of providing answers when really they are just trying to keep what should be public information secret. "People pay for this council and they have every right to have their questions answered."

Of 612 requests put to the authority, only 363 were answered within the legally-required 20 days. Another 144 were answered after the time limit leaving 105 completely unanswered.

The figures were revealed under a Freedom of Information Act request placed by the Express & Star. The council refused to answer what questions they had previously refused to answer.

Paul Uppal, Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, said: "I'm a big believer in transparency and I would urge Wolverhampton City Council to answer as many of these requests as possible. If that means re-structuring the way it collates information, that should be done."

And Fiona McEvoy, grass roots manager with the Taxpayers' Alliance, added: "Residents deserve to know what's going on and how the council are spending money on their behalf - that is why this act is so important. In rejecting or delaying information requests, Wolverhampton Council are compromising their openness and transparency."

The council today defended its policy and said it was looking to improve.

Councillor Joan Stevenson, cabinet member for organisation, people and performance, said: "Many of the requests we receive are complex and require a considerable amount of officers time gathering, collating and checking the data.

"We have put more resources into answering FOI requests and improving our performance in this area is a priority.

"We will be conducting a detailed review of our procedures and systems to make sure we sharpen up."