mysociety/whatdotheyknow — Issue #44: FOI officer complaints about Round Robin requests made via WDTK
Author: skenaja
Created: 2012-01-10 08:56:42+00:00
State: open

FOI officer complaints about Round Robin requests made via WDTK

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/foi/foi-and-local-government/2010-foi-officers-survey.pdf
Nov 11 page 41

Comments about ‘round robins’
Some responders spoke of frustration of requests not being aimed specifically at their council:
“Generic requests are also a complete mare. Its obvious because of the blanket questioning that they haven't the slightest interest or knowledge of what we do. There is no local accountability. Around a third of our logged and refused requests a year are for these two topics, schools and social services, and often from companies we've told on numerous occasions that we don’t provide that service. Although I support the ethos of what whatdotheyknow.com set out to achieve, by default this site perpetuates this thoughtless and indiscriminate blanket-request culture.”

Looks like we should add further Notes for borough & district councils re planning, schools & social services or try to limit bulk requests...