The Campaign for Freedom of Information has welcomed the affirmation of the importance of FOI work in the ICO’s new strategy, ICO25.

The Information Commissioner, John Edwards, said: “There are few regulators who can say their work is of fundamental importance to the functioning of democracy. But that is the value of the Freedom of Information Act. My role is to ensure the administration of that law is fit for the modern world.”

The ICO announced that it is committing to delivering more systemic enforcement action against public authorities that clearly and consistently fail to meet their FOI obligations. The ICO has now also promised to publish quarterly updates on its FOI casework so people can see how it is performing as a regulator and how long they can expect to have their cases resolved.