The annual report of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has revealed a significant increase both in the number of Freedom of Information complaints and data protection cases over the past year.

The number of complaints about answers to Freedom of Information requests increased by almost 20 per cent in 2009/10 to 3,734, against the 2008/9 figure of 3,100.

The number of data-protection breaches also increased, by over 30 per cent in 2009/10 to 33,234 individual requests for advice and complaints from 25,509 in 2008/9.

This led to more activity from the Information Commissioner’s Office. While in 2008/09 the ICO only sought 14 formal undertakings – 10 of which came from the NHS – in 2009/10 the ICO sought 57 formal undertakings, with 21 coming from NHS trusts.

Last month, CSW revealed that over the past year the NHS had almost doubled the rate at which it loses data and found that in recent months, ICO actions may be curbing this trend.

Overall, the ICO report says that the office closed a greater number of cases in 2009/10 despite the increase in caseload.

Information commissioner Christopher Graham said: “We’ve never been busier, but despite the surge in business, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is keeping on top of the demand for our services.”

He added: “We have made some significant internal changes to ensure we are best placed to deal with the increasing demands and expectations placed upon us by the public and the organisations we work with.”

The Information Commissioner also argues in the report that the courts should be able to impose a custodial sentence to tackle the sale of personal data, and says that the ICO must report directly to Parliament.

The full ICO annual report was released yesterday and is available here.

Written by Joshua Chambers