by political editor Paul Francis

Kent County Council has been told to improve the way it deals with Freedom of Information requests or risk formal sanctions that include being taken to court.

The warning has come from the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, who heads the Freedom of Information watchdog.

KCC is one of six public bodies who have been ordered to take steps to improve their handling of FOI requests.

The Information Commissioner says it is concerned the county council "may not be sufficiently aware of its responsibilities under the Act and its regulations".

A formal notice, in which the council has agreed to sign an official undertaking to act, states KCC must do more to ensure requests are dealt with appropriately.

The notice says KCC will have to consider whether or not it needs to spend more money dealing with FOI requests.

The commissioner has also instructed the council to make a public statement of intent to offer an assurance that it has "embraced the culture of openness and transparency the legislation seeks to promote".

Cllr Roger Gough (Con), the cabinet member who oversees FOI for the authority, said he accepted the council had to improve.

"There is an issue to be dealt with and we do take it seriously. We are going to look at what we do. There is no doubt that we are dealing with more requests but we recognise we have to do better. Requests have gone up and up and we do seem to get proportionately more requests than similar authorities but we are doing a proper analysis of where we are."

The council planned to be more pro-active about publishing information but that alone would not necessarily reduce requests, he added.

KCC was put on notice that it could face action in March last year amid concerns it was taking too long to deal with requests. The ICO says since that time, KCC has failed to improve its performance.

Mr Graham said: "Responding promptly to FOI requests is important for maintaining public confidence and achieving great transparency."