FoIA – Staffordshire Police are not the worst offenders

And by this measure are treated leniently? The ‘Practice Notice’ can be read here.

November 2024:

Staffordshire police recognised their FoIA failings in July 2023. However, by the end of 2023, having not addressed these shortcomings, the issues were before the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – read more here.

A year on, November 2024, and it appears things have not improved. Indeed, the shortcomings remain and the constabulary has no strategy to address the issue! 18 months of inadequate attention, of police failing to comply with the legislation, the ICO has … issued a Practice Recommendation! Apparently, leniency is apparently appropriate because:

Staffordshire Police has engaged openly with the ICO about the procedural problems it has faced.
The overall backlog of overdue requests is also smaller than that of some equivalent police forces

Would the ICO expect anything other than frankness from a constabulary; has the ICO encountered a lack of forthright responses from others, awkwardness that is used for comparison purposes? It would surely be difficult to be other than open about their failings; simple math’ would demonstrate whether date of request to disclosure exceeded 20 working days. Complaints would, on this basis, be unequivocal.

Tolerance and clemency is applied not based upon a consideration of Staffordshire‘s conduct alone, that they have failed the public for a year-and-a-half, but because other constabularies are worse! How is this an appropriate consideration and a deterrent?