BOSSES at Birmingham City Council have been rapped for failing to respond to requests for information on time.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is in talks with the authority after it failed to convince officials it had “a clear and credible plan” over its obligations under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Bromsgrove councils were among 33 public authorities monitored by the ICO for three months from last October over concerns about their FOI response times.

No action was deemed necessary for Bromsgrove but Wolverhampton was ordered to sign an undertaking to improve its performance and “regulatory action” is in store for Birmingham.

The Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence are in the same position.

A Birmingham council spokesman said the authority fielded 1,173 FOI requests last year and 391 in the first three months of this year.

She said only 15 were currently awaiting responses outside the legal time frame of 20 working days.