Freedom of Information service suspended by Northamptonshire County Council until May

Northamptonshire County Council has suspended its Freedom of Information service | jpimedia

Freedom of Information services have been suspended by Northamptonshire County Council until May, but opposition councillors hope the authority still answers probing questions.

The authority is ranking each of its services in levels of importance as it moves towards offering only essential services during the coronavirus outbreak.

Last week, leader Councillor Matt Golby said the virus needed the ‘full attention’ of the council’s staff and would be ‘standing down’ some services. And the Freedom of Information service is one of those that has been deemed dispensable in the short-term, with the service suspended as of today (March 25) until May 1.

It means no requests received under the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations will be responded to within this time and any requests received will need to be resubmitted when the service reopens.

Liberal Democrat leader Chris Stanbra said it was important the county council continued to answer legitimate questions | jpimedia

The announcement came as the council also said it would be closing all its household recycling centres.

Councillor Golby said: “We are continuing to look at everything we do to find ways that we can support our residents and also ensure that we are meeting the ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19.”

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Chris Stanbra said he understood why the FoI service was not deemed a priority, but hoped that it would not be used to avoid answering questions.

He said: “I can see that there might be a good reason, but if a journalist or member of the public has a specific question then I think the council still has a duty to answer those questions in other ways. What it must not do is use the suspension of the FoI service to not answer legitimate questions. At this time good communication and transparency are vital.”

Labour councillor Anjona Roy questioned whether the deadline to respond to Freedom of Information requests could have been extended | jpimedia

And Labour councillor Anjona Roy questioned why consideration had not been given to extending the statutory 20-day response deadline as a first measure.

She added: “I’m surprised that it has been stood down. There are other ways they could have dealt with this. They could have lengthened the time of answer and this would have been more accountable than just not doing it.”