An internal review by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has identified that the regulator failed to properly manage requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) following allegations of unlawful conduct by an employee. The FCA delayed responses to 17 out of 18 requests from July to December 2020, misusing time extensions meant for evaluating the public interest to find ways to block requests instead. The review noted limited evidence of public interest discussions during these extensions and identified similar misuse in past cases from 2018 and 2019. The whistleblower, who was dismissed in 2023, claimed the manipulation of performance figures was a motive behind the delays. While the review did not determine if the failures were intentional, it pointed to issues such as insufficient resources and inefficient processes and recommended retraining for all staff, including senior leadership.
£ - This article requires a subscription.
What is this page?
You are reading a summary article on the Privacy Newsfeed, a free resource for DPOs and other professionals with privacy or data protection responsibilities helping them stay informed of industry news all in one place. The information here is a brief snippet relating to a single piece of original content or several articles about a common topic or thread. The main contributor is listed in the top left-hand corner, just beneath the article title.
The Privacy Newsfeed monitors over 300 global publications, of which more than 5,750 summary articles have been posted to the online archive dating back to the beginning of 2020. A weekly roundup is available by email every Friday.
