To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many complaints the Information Commissioner has processed in the last 12 months; what was the average amount of time taken by the Information Commissioner to process these complaints; how many of these complaints have taken over (a) six months, (b) 12 months and (c) 24 months to be processed; and if he will make a statement. (169019)

The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to promote access to official information and to protect personal information.

The ICO receives complaints under the Data Protection Act (DPA), the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

Figures are available until the end of October 2007 as set out in the table as follows.