A new survey into the Freedom of Information Act has revealed that journalists are providing around ten per cent of all requests to local authorities.

It found that some of the requests from journalists and campaign groups were among the most problematic and required more time and effort to answer.

And several authorities commented that, while the volume of requests had generally declined during the first six months of this year, the complexity of requests had grown - especially requests by local pressure groups and journalists.

The survey, of 200 of England’s 387 local authorities, was carried out by University College London’s Constitution Unit on behalf of the Improvement and Development Agency, which promotes good practice in local government.

District councils took an average of 12 staff hours to answer requests and larger councils 14. A few complex requests, most of which were from local pressure groups and journalists, took considerably longer to process.

The survey also found that some councils were subject to more challenges because they were faced by determined pressure groups and journalists. And the results showed that a higher volume of requests should be expected before local elections, particularly from people and groups seeking sensitive information.

The Freedom of Information Act came into force on January 1 this year and allows public access to information held by more than 100,000 public bodies.

The report, compiled by Jim Amos, from University College, said: “Many thought the system surrounding the act and releasing information made the authority engage better with the public and the media, with their council becoming more open and accountable.

“We estimate that in the six month period from January to June 2005, the 387 local authorities handled a total of 35,406 requests.

“We saw no noteworthy differences in the number of requests received by London boroughs, county, metropolitan and unitary councils.

“District councils received, on average, far fewer requests than the others.”

The study showed that businesses asked 18 per cent of the questions and private individuals 60 per cent.

A half of councils have only one full-time equivalent member of staff working on FOI and only 15 per cent have more than five. Freedom of Information officers frequently combine their role with responsibility for data protection and records management.