Kent Police has been reprimanded by a watchdog for failing to respond to information requests from the public in time.

Requests from members of the public asking about personal information held about them are supposed to be responded to within three months.

The force completed only 60% during the statutory deadline and in some cases it has reportedly taken more than 18 months to issue a response.

This is out of 200 requests made from October 2020 to February 2021, which are called Subject Access Requests (SARs).

Overall, as of May 2022 more than 200 SARs to the force remain overdue.

The reprimand is from the Information Commissioner's Office, which has also taken action against six other organisations such as Government departments and London councils.

They were identified following a series of complaints in relation to multiple failures to respond to requests for copies of personal information collected and processed by these organisations, either within statutory timeframes or at all.

The action has included recommendations issued under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Information Commissioner John Edwards said: “SARs and requests made under FOIA are fundamental rights and are an essential gateway to accessing other rights.

"Being able to ask an organisation: 'What information do you hold on me?' and: 'How it is being used?' provides transparency and accountability and allows the person to ask for changes to be made or even for the information to be deleted.

"We expect all information requests to be handled appropriately and in a timely way.

"This encourages public trust and confidence and ensures organisations stay on the right side of the law.”

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Kent Police is committed to discharging its responsibilities under the Data Protection Act and strives to ensure that all Subject Access Requests (SAR) are dealt with in a timely way.

"Recognising this as an area of business that needed improvement Kent Police requested that the Information Commissioner’s Office includes a review of this area of business as part of the consensual audit which will be undertaken in early October 2022.

"Following a significant increase in the number of SAR requests between 2019 and 2021, the force had already drawn up a comprehensive improvement plan which was ratified by chief officers and will include looking at ways to respond to Subject Access Requests in a more timely fashion.

"This will include streamlining current processes to improve response times and an increase in staff who deal with SAR requests."

The other six organisations subject to the ICO action were the London borough councils of Croydon, Hackney and Lambeth, the Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Virgin Media.