ICON alert – edition 28

Special ICON alert: FOI statistics for 2025–26 year

Agencies and ministers are required to enter FOI statistics on the Information Commissioner’s secure web portal at https://foistats.oaic.gov.au/ (the FOIstats database):

• quarter 4 returns are due by 21 July 2026
• annual returns are due by 31 July 2026.

Remember to open the FOIstats guide to help you complete the returns. You can also download that a PDF version of that guide (FOIstats guide (PDF, 1343 KB), which includes a template for each of the returns from pages 17–22.

For the benefit of FOI officers and FOI leadership across agencies, we have set out a few tips for these returns here.

Quarter 4 returns

For your agency’s quarter 4 return (about FOI requests and outcomes), check that:

• carry-over figures at question 2A (number of FOI requests on hand at beginning of quarter) reflect the actual number of requests being processed at the beginning of the quarter. Remember that you can you can correct data entered in previous quarters within the 2025–26 year if a carry-over figure at 2A is not correct
• the figures that you enter at question 6 (response times) match the total of the figures that you enter at questions 3A, 3B, and 3C (covering the number of requests that were finalised by giving access in full, part, or refuse)
• the figures at 3B (covering partial access) include access to a document that was edited to remove irrelevant information under s 22(1)(b)(ii)
• you have considered each of Sections 1 to 9 – spanning 3 pages – of the return (navigate these pages using the link ‘Next’ at the top or bottom of each page)
• you have saved each of Sections 1 to 9 of the return by clicking ‘Save’ under each section (even if you have no data for some of those sections).

Take the chance to look back over your agency’s quarter 1, quarter 2, and quarter 3 returns to ensure that you have entered and saved all the relevant data.

Annual returns

For your agency’s annual return (about staff resources and other costs of FOI and the IPS):

• Section 2 relates to the number of staff who spent time on FOI or IPS work
• Section 3 relates to the number of 'staff-hours' spent on FOI or IPS
• Section 4 relates to non-staff costs in 5 separate categories, including General administrative, General legal advice, Litigation, Training and Other costs
• the FOIstats guide includes a variety of examples to help agencies with Sections 2, 3, and 4
• we encourage agencies to respond to Sections 5 and 6 by commenting on differences in previous years, and the operation and administration of the FOI Act.

On that last point, we may quote or summarise your agency’s comments in our annual return, and we will publish them with the full dataset at FOI statistics - Dataset - Data.gov.au.

FOI leadership is reminded to consider early what comments their agency may wish to provide in Sections 5 and 6.

The FOIstats guide goes into detail about questions 5 and 6 ...

Section 5 – Comparison with previous year

In Section 5, your agency can comment on major differences in statistics for the year under report and the previous reporting year such as:

• the number of FOI requests received and response times
• FOI costs incurred and charges collected
• staff-hours spent on FOI or IPS matters
• the outcomes of decisions, for example, the reasons for an increase or decrease in the percentage of requests granted in full, in part or refused.

The FOIstats guide explains that agencies have been subject to adverse media comment when there were significant increases in costs and no explanation was provided.

Section 6 – Comparison with previous year

Section 6 invites agencies to provide comments on matters such as:

• the effect of amendments to the FOI Act
• the level and quality of support offered by the OAIC
• the effect of changes to internal structures and procedures
• changes to the level or location of decision-makers within the agency
• where access was granted in part, the number of requests where a document was edited to remove irrelevant information under s 22(1)(b)(ii)).

Enquiry form

If you still have questions after reviewing the FOIstats guide, please contact us via our Enquiry form.