Only two-thirds of requests for information from Lambeth Council were answered on time last year, a report has revealed.

Just 962 of a total 1,484 Freedom of Information (FoI) applications submitted to Lambeth Council were answered within a 20-day deadline, according to a report from its corporate committee on Tuesday, June 26.

The worst offender was the council’s united residents’ housing department that responded on time in one in four cases.

Other procrastinators included the housing management organisation, Lambeth Living, and the office of chief executive Derrick Anderson that only provided information within the deadline in less than one in two cases.

Overall, workers who provided responses were less efficient than in 2010-11 when 78 per cent of requests were returned on time as opposed to 65 per cent in 2011-12.

The act gives people the right to access information held by public authorities.

A council spokesman said some FoI requests were “very complex”, but said it was “taking steps” to ensure it responded to more queries on time.