To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many complaints the Information Commissioner has received about the time taken by his office to handle cases.

The Information Commissioner is an independent body created by statute with responsibility for handling complaints made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Commissioner's Office has not routinely maintained statistics relating to complaints about the length of time it has taken to handle cases. Any complaints received are treated in accordance with the Information Commissioner's policy in complaints. This policy has recently been updated and from 1 February 2006, the office has maintained a database of information about complaints received which include the reason for the complaint.

Since the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act, the Commissioner has also received 17 FOI requests relating to the time taken to close cases.