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Freedom of Information statistics

The Cabinet Office has responsibility for Freedom of Information policy in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and publishes information on the handling of requests.

Updates to this page

From:
Cabinet Office and Ministry of Justice
Published:
26 September 2013
Last updated:
17 June 2026
Show all updates

  1. Added Freedom of Information statistics: January to March 2026 to the collection

  2. Added Freedom of Information statistics: October to December 2025 to the collection. Added Freedom of Information statistics: annual 2025 to the collection.

  3. Freedom of Information statistics: July to September 2025 has been added to the collection.

  4. Added Freedom of Information statistics: April to June 2025 to the collection

  5. Freedom of Information statistics: January to March 2025 has been added to the collection

  6. Added Freedom of Information statistics: annual 2024 and October to December 2024 to the 2024 collection

  7. Added Freedom of Information statistics: July to September 2024 to the collection

  8. Added Freedom of Information statistics: April to June 2024 to the collection

  9. Added Freedom of Information statistics: January to March 2024 to the collection

  10. Added Freedom of Information statistics: October to December 2023 and Annual 2023 Freedom of Information statistics

  11. Added Freedom of Information statistics: July to September 2023

  12. Added Freedom of Information statistics: April to June 2023

  13. Added Freedom of Information statistics: January to March 2023

  14. Updated with latest FoI statistics

  15. Added Freedom of Information statistics: January to March 2022

  16. Links added to published Q4 and Annual 2021 Freedom of Information statistics

  17. Added Freedom of Information statistics: July to September 2021

  18. Addition of Freedom of Information statistics: April to June 2021

  19. Added 2021 section

  20. Links added to published Q4 and Annual 2020 Freedom of Information statistics

  21. Addition of Freedom of Information statistics: July to September 2020.

  22. Addition of the document 'Freedom of Information statistics: April to June 2020'.

  23. Addition of Freedom of Information statistics for January to March 2020.

  24. "Freedom of Information statistics: annual 2019" and "Freedom of Information statistics: October to December 2019" have been added to this page.

  25. We have added Q3 statistics for 2019.

  26. Added Q2 stats

  27. Added 2019 section

  28. Added 2018 Q4 and 2018 annual data. Corrections section updated.

  29. Added July to September 2018 data.

  30. Added note to 2018 section about the change to release date.

  31. FOI statistics from April to June added

  32. We have added January to March 2018 statistics.

  33. We have added statistics for January to March 2018.

  34. There was an error on Slide 14 of the chart in the 2017 Annual bulletin - 'Most commonly used exemptions'. This has now been corrected. The data tables and CSV files were unaffected.

  35. October to December 2017 and annual 2017 FoI pages added to collection.

  36. 2017 Q4 and 2017 Annual statistics added to page

  37. July to September 2017 data added.

  38. Q2 2017 statistics added.

  39. Updated information under 'National statistics' sub-heading, linked to new quarterly statistics.

  40. Updated with October to December 2016 and annual data.

  41. Added July to September 2016 data.

  42. Added April to June 2016 data.

  43. Added January to March 2016 data.

  44. Added Q4 2015 to the collection

  45. Added statistics for July to September 2015

  46. Freedom of information statistics: January to March 2015

  47. Freedom of Information statistics for October to December 2014 and annual published.

  48. July to September 2014 statistics added

  49. Freedom of Information statistics - 1 April to 30 June 2014 published

  50. Freedom of Information statistics: April to June 2014 published

  51. Freedom of Information statistics from 1 January to 31 March 2014 published.

  52. Freedom of Information Statistics - October - December 2013 and Annual added.

  53. First published.

Accredited official statistics

These statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Accreditation signifies their compliance with the authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

These statistics were independently reviewed by the OSR in June 2017. See Assessment Report 328 Freedom of Information Statistics - implementation in Central Government. Since this review by the OSR, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics. Further information on the production of these statistics can be found on our FOI statistics supporting documents page, and the Cabinet Office standards and policies page.

Previous editions

For all previous editions of FOI statistics please visit our online archive.

Tell us what you think

We always welcome views on our publications. Please fill in our user feedback form or email us at foistatistics@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Feedback received will contribute to the future development of our publications.

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