Access to information and privacy statistical report, 2015-16

2015-16 Access to information statistics
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2015-16 Privacy statistics
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Introduction

The Access to Information and Privacy Statistical Report is an annual report of statistical information about the Government of Canada’s access to information and privacy programs.

The Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act both came in to effect on July 1, 1983.

Section 70(1)(c.1) of the Access to Information Act assigns responsibility to the President of the Treasury Board, as the designated Minister, to collect statistics on an annual basis. These statistics are used to assess the performance of the Government of Canada’s access to information and privacy programs according to the provisions of the Acts.

The tables and figures that follow present data from the period of April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, provided by government institutions subject to the Acts. Cumulative data from 1983 to March 31, 2016 is also presented.

The complete statistical dataset will be made available in open format on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal.

Access to Information Act statistics, 2015-16

Requests under the Access to Information Act

75,387 requests were received in 2015-16, an increase of 10.5 percent from 2014-15.

Of 87,115 requests that were received in 2015-16 or were outstanding from the previous period, 83.3 percent were closed. This is relatively consistent with 2014-15: out of 78,804 requests that were received in 2014-15 or were outstanding from the previous period, 85.1 percent were closed.

Ten government institutions received 83.4 percent of all new requests in 2015-16.

Requests received and closed under the Access to Information Act
Requests under the Access to Information Act	Number of requests
Table 1 Notes Table 1 Note 1 Due to administrative errors, there are small inconsistencies between the 2014-15 statistical data and the 2015-16 statistical data regarding the number of requests or consultations left outstanding at the end of the 2014-15 reporting period. Return to table 1 note 1 referrer
Outstanding from 2014-15 reporting period^{table 1 note 1}	11,728
Received during 2015-16 reporting period	75,387
Total	87,115
Closed during 2015-16 period	72,581
Carried over to 2016-17 reporting period	14,534

Requests received and closed under the Access to Information Act: 2015-16 and 2014-15. Text version below: — **Figure 01: Requests received and closed under the Access to Information Act: 2015-16 and 2014-15**

Requests under the Access to Information Act	2015-16	2014-15
Outstanding from previous reporting period	11,728	10,611
Received during reporting period	75,387	68,193
Closed during reporting period	72,581	67,032
Carried over to next reporting period	14,534	11,772

Access to Information Act requests by top ten institutions
Rank	Name of institution	Received requests as percentage	Number of received requests	Number of pages processed ^{table 3 note 1}
Table 3 Notes Table 3 Note 1 The number of pages processed per government institution represents the total processed pages for closed requests. This does not include the number of pages processed for requests that were carried over into the next reporting period. Return to table 3 note 1 referrer
1	Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada	55.3%	41,660	2,145,173
2	Canada Border Services Agency	7.3%	5,532	379,996
3	Royal Canadian Mounted Police	5.1%	3,854	654,005
4	Canada Revenue Agency	4.2%	3,139	1,233,194
5	National Defence	2.9%	2,189	280,017
6	Employment and Social Development Canada	2.1%	1,572	257,249
7	Environment and Climate Change Canada	2.1%	1,558	109,475
8	Health Canada	1.6%	1,222	107,396
9	Global Affairs Canada	1.4%	1,086	148,527
10	Transport Canada	1.4%	1,032	107,169
Other Institutions		16.6%	12,543	3,603,528
Total		100.0%	75,387	9,025,729

Sources of received Access to Information Act requests
Source	Number of requests	Percentage of requests
Table 4 Notes Table 4 Note 1 The category “organization” includes, but is not limited to, associations, unions, not-for-profit and voluntary organizations, offices of Members of Parliament, political parties and non-government organizations. It also includes requesters that selected “organization” when submitting their request. Return to table 4 note 1 referrer Table 4 Note 2 The category “decline to identify” includes requesters that selected “decline to identify” when submitting their request. It also includes instances where the requester did not select any of the available categories when submitting a hard-copy application. Return to table 4 note 2 referrer
Business (private sector)	30,780	40.8%
Public	26,638	35.3%
Media	6,862	9.1%
Organization^{table 1 note 1}	3,602	4.8%
Academia	2,885	3.8%
Decline to identify^{table 1 note 2}	4,620	6.1%
Total	75,387	100.0%

Sources of received Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15. Text version below: — **Figure 02: Sources of received Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15**

Source	2015-16	2014-15
Business	30,780	25,170
Public	26,638	28,082
Media	6,862	7,873
Organization	3,602	3,297
Academia	2,885	2,008
Decline to identify	4,620	1,763

Timeliness

Of 72,581 requests closed in 2015-16, 46,543, or 64.1 percent, were closed within the initial statutory deadline of 30 days.

85.9 percent of requests were closed within established timelines (that is, closed within the initial statutory deadline of 30 days or within an extension period provided for in the Act). The comparable figure in 2014-15 was 87.5 percent.

Disposition and time required to close Access to Information Act requests
Disposition of requests (including requests for which extensions were required)	Closure time^{table 5 note 1}
	0 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More Than 365 days	Total
Table 5 Notes Table 5 Note 1 The number of days to close requests or consultations refers to calendar days. Return to table 5 note 1 referrer Table 5 Note 2 An abandoned request is a request that has been formally withdrawn by the requester, or the requester did not respond to a notice indicating that the request will be closed if they do not respond within a specified time period. Return to table 5 note 2 referrer Table 5 Note 3 The category “neither confirmed nor denied” consists of requests for which subsection 10(2) of the Access to Information Act was invoked: “The head of a government institution may but is not required to indicate under subsection [10](1) whether a record exists.” Return to table 5 note 3 referrer
All disclosed	12,350	4,097	753	160	146	50	17,556
Disclosed in part	22,670	10,260	4,153	1,536	1,388	1,145	41,152
All exempted	455	135	141	28	30	9	798
All excluded	192	44	54	13	9	3	315
No records exist	4,854	650	169	63	45	42	5,823
Request transferred	471	1	1	0	0	0	473
Request abandoned^{table 5 note 2}	5,075	238	166	79	119	276	5,953
Neither confirmed nor denied^{table 5 note 3}	476	17	9	4	4	1	511
Total number of requests	46,543	15,442	5,446	1,883	1,741	1,526	72,581
Total as percentage	64.1%	21.3%	7.5%	2.6%	2.4%	2.1%	100.0%

Time required to close Access to Information Act requests according to time period: 2015-16 and 2014-15^{table 1 note 1}
Closure time	Requests as percentage		Number of requests
Closure time	2015-16	2014-15	2015-16	2014-15
Table 6 Notes Table 6 Note 1 The Access to Information Act provides for the extension of the time limit to respond to a request beyond 30 days if: (1) it involves a large number of records or necessitates a search through a large number of records AND meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the institution; (2) external consultations are necessary and cannot reasonably be expected to be closed within the original time limit; or (3) notice to a third party is required to advise the third party that their information is the subject of a request. The data in this table reflects all closed requests, including requests for which extensions were taken. Return to table 6 note 1 referrer
0 to 30 days	64.1%	65.1%	46,543	43,641
31 to 60 days	21.3%	19.6%	15,442	13,133
61 to 120 days	7.5%	8.0%	5,446	5,345
121 to 180 days	2.6%	2.6%	1,883	1,758
181 to 365 days	2.4%	2.7%	1,741	1,820
More than 365 days	2.1%	2.0%	1,526	1,335
Total	100.0%	100.0%	72,581	67,032

Time required to close Access to Information Act requests, 2011-12 to 2015-16. Text version below: — **Figure 03: Time required to close Access to Information Act requests, 2011-12 to 2015-16 ^{Footnote 1}**

Closure time	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
0 to 30 days	55.3%	64.8%	61.0%	65.1%	64.1%
31 to 60 days	21.3%	17.3%	18.0%	19.6%	21.3%
61 to 120 days	12.9%	9.8%	10.4%	8.0%	7.5%
121 days or more	10.5%	8.1%	10.7%	7.3%	7.1%

Status of closed Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15
Status of closed requests	Requests as percentage		Number of requests
Status of closed requests	2015-16	2014-15	2015-16	2014-15
Closed within the statutory deadline including extensions	85.9%	87.5%	62,366	58,627
Closed in deemed refusal	14.1%	12.5%	10,215	8,405
Total	100.0%	100.0%	72,581	67,032

Access to Information Act requests closed within established timelines, 2011-12 to 2015-16. Text version below: — **Figure 04: Access to Information Act requests closed within established timelines, 2011-12 to 2015-16**

Status of closed request	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Closed Within the Statutory Deadline Including Extensions	85.1%	89.3%	86.0%	87.5%	85.9%
Deemed Refusals	14.9%	10.7%	14.0%	12.5%	14.1%

Reasons for deemed refusals^{table 7 note 1} regarding closed Access to Information Act requests
Total number of requests closed past the statutory deadline or not within the timeline covered by an extension (deemed refusal)	Principal reason
	Workload	External consultation	Internal consultation	Other ^{table 7 note 2}
Table 7 Notes Table 7 Note 1 The information in this table reflects requests that were neither closed in the initial 30 days nor closed within the timeline covered by an extension. These requests are referred to as “deemed refusals.” Return to table 7 note 1 referrer Table 7 Note 2 Other reasons include the unavailability of key officials, difficulties in obtaining relevant records, labour disputes, lengthy power outages, etc. Return to table 7 note 2 referrer
10,215	8,319	659	385	852

Number of days past deadline for Access to Information Act requests closed in deemed refusal
Number of days past deadline	Number of requests past deadline where no extension was taken	Number of requests past deadline where an extension was taken	Total deemed refusals	Total as percentage
1 to 30 days	4,406	727	5,133	50.2%
31 to 60 days	802	391	1,193	11.7%
61 to 120 days	594	486	1,080	10.6%
121 to 180 days	400	315	715	7.0%
181 to 365 days	438	601	1,039	10.2%
More than 365 days	430	625	1,055	10.3%
Total	7,070	3,145	10,215	100.0%

Disposition

Records were disclosed either in full or in part for 80.9 percent of closed requests. This is a 2.2 percent relative increase, as compared with the previous period.

Disposition of closed Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15
Disposition of closed requests	Requests as percentage		Number of requests
Disposition of closed requests	2015-16	2014-15	2015-16	2014-15
All disclosed	24.2%	27.2%	17,556	18,253
Disclosed in part	56.7%	51.5%	41,152	34,545
All exempted	1.1%	1.1%	798	727
All excluded	0.4%	0.6%	315	377
No records exist	8.0%	9.7%	5,823	6,493
Request transferred	0.7%	0.9%	473	591
Request abandoned	8.2%	8.7%	5,953	5,851
Neither confirmed nor denied	0.7%	0.3%	511	195
Total	100.00%	100.00%	72,581	67,032

Disposition of closed Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15. Text version below: — **Figure 05: Disposition of closed Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15**

Disposition of closed requests	2015-16	2014-15
All disclosed	17,556	18,253
Disclosed in part	41,152	34,545
All exempted	798	727
All excluded	315	377
No records exist	5,823	6,493
Request transferred	473	591
Request abandoned	5,953	5,851
Neither confirmed nor denied	511	195

Complexity

In 2015-16, government institutions processed about 9 million pages for closed requests; 73.4 percent of pages were disclosed either in full or in part.

Government institutions undertook outside consultations in 9.2 percent of all closed requests.

Relevant pages processed and disclosed regarding Closed Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15
Disposition of requests	Number of pages processed		Number of pages disclosed		Number of requests ^{table 8 note 1}
Disposition of requests	2015-16	2014-15	2015-16	2014-15	2015-16	2014-15
Table 8 Notes Table 8 Note 1 The total number of requests for each reporting period reflects the total number of requests closed in each period with the exception of those categorized as “no records exist,” “request transferred” or “neither confirmed nor denied.” Return to table 8 note 1 referrer Table 8 Note 2 Some records may have been disclosed to the requester prior to the request’s abandonment. Return to table 8 note 2 referrer
All disclosed	1,054,276	982,150	991,379	846,581	17,556	18,253
Disclosed in part	7,305,111	7,136,655	5,574,908	4,669,409	41,152	34,545
All exempted	165,984	1,363,960	0	0	798	727
All excluded	22,556	14,463	0	0	315	377
Request abandoned^{table 8 note 2}	477,802	422,121	56,714	57,139	5,953	5,851
Total	9,025,729	9,919,349	6,623,001	5,573,129	65,774	59,753

Other considerations regarding complexity of closed Access to Information Act requests
Disposition	Consultation required	Assessment of fees	Legal advice sought	Other^{table 9 note 1}	Total
Table 9 Notes Table 9 Note 1 Other considerations include requests for the contents of a database, requests to process audio or video recordings, high-profile subject matter, instances in which records are located in another region or country, instances in which the records are in a language other than English or French, etc. Return to table 9 note 1 referrer
All disclosed	719	84	15	658	1,476
Disclosed in part	5,576	264	226	2,838	8,904
All exempted	106	25	12	244	387
All excluded	79	0	16	29	124
Request abandoned	218	177	8	462	865
Neither confirmed nor denied	3	4	0	19	26
Total	6,701	554	277	4,250	11,782

Extensions

45.3 percent of all extensions taken for closed requests cited paragraph 9(1)(a) of the Access to Information Act as a reason for the extension, relating to interference with government operations. Furthermore, 30.0 percent of all extensions taken for closed requests were for 30 days or less, and 90.8 percent were for 120 days or less.

Reasons for and length of extensions regarding closed Access to Information Act requests
Length of extensions^{table 10 note 1}	9(1)(a) - Interference with operations	9(1)(b) - Consultation		9(1)(c) - Third-party notice	Total
Length of extensions^{table 10 note 1}	9(1)(a) - Interference with operations	Section 69^{table 10 note 2}	Other^{table 10 note 3}	9(1)(c) - Third-party notice	Total
Table 10 Notes Table 10 Note 1 The timelines associated with extensions begin at the end of the initial 30-day response period. Return to table 10 note 1 referrer Table 10 Note 2 Section 69 of the Access to Information Act states that the Act does not apply to confidences of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. Return to table 10 note 2 referrer Table 10 Note 3 The “other” category includes consultations with one or more of the following: other federal government institutions, provincial and municipal governments, foreign states, international organizations of states, Aboriginal governments, non-governmental organizations or individuals. Return to table 10 note 3 referrer
30 days or less	2,415	54	1,087	198	3,754
31 to 60 days	1,677	106	1,349	1,117	4,249
61 to 120 days	1,118	516	1,447	268	3,349
121 to 180 days	245	97	303	64	709
181 to 365 days	158	12	139	48	357
365 days or more	51	0	26	11	88
Total	5,664	785	4,351	1,706	12,506

Exemptions ^{Footnote 2}

The tables that follow indicate exemptions applied under the Access to Information Act in requests closed during the reporting period.

Information obtained in confidence
Provision	Number of requests
13(1)(a)	2,776
13(1)(b)	240
13(1)(c)	753
13(1)(d)	359
13(1)(e)	12

Federal-provincial affairs
Provision	Number of requests
14	435
14(a)	383
14(b)	150

International affairs and defence
Provision	Number of requests
15(1)	511
15(1) International Affairs	2,115
15(1) Defence	1,436
15(1) Subversive activities	8,375

Law enforcement and investigations
Provision	Number of requests
16(1)(a)(i)	1,311
16(1)(a)(ii)	776
16(1)(a)(iii)	212
16(1)(b)	693
16(1)(c)	10,390
16(1)(d)	101
16(2)	1,900
16(2)(a)	35
16(2)(b)	42
16(2)(c)	1,761
16(3)	5
16.1(1)(a)	19
16.1(1)(b)	19
16.1(1)(c)	93
16.1(1)(d)	96
16.2(1)	7
16.3	3
16.4(1)(a)	3
16.4(1)(b)	1
16.5	13

Safety of individuals
Provision	Number of requests
17	266

Economic interests of Canada
Provision	Number of requests
18(a)	255
18(b)	447
18(c)	13
18(d)	255
18.1(1)(a)	78
18.1(1)(b)	23
18.1(1)(c)	8
18.1(1)(d)	24

Personal information
Provision	Number of requests
19(1)	28,535

Third-party information
Provision	Number of requests
20(1)(a)	147
20(1)(b)	2,370
20(1)(b.1)	32
20(1)(c)	1,940
20(1)(d)	547
20.1	3
20.2	0
20.4	0

Operations of government
Provision	Number of requests
21(1)(a)	3,754
21(1)(b)	4,214
21(1)(c)	1,058
21(1)(d)	507

Testing procedures, tests and audits
Provision	Number of requests
22	411
22.1(1)	63

Solicitor-Client Privilege
Provision	Number of requests
23	2,196

Statutory prohibitions
Provision	Number of requests
24(1)	1,916

Information to be published
Provision	Number of requests
26	194

Exclusions ^{Footnote 3}

The tables that follow indicate exclusions applied under the Access to Information Act for requests closed during the reporting period.

Act does not apply to certain materials
Provision	Number of requests
68(a)	468
68(b)	5
68(c)	4
68.1	86
68.2(a)	54
68.2(b)	11

Cabinet confidences
Provision	Number of requests
69(1)	43
69(1)(a)	160
69(1)(b)	11
69(1)(c)	46
69(1)(d)	177
69(1)(e)	366
69(1)(f)	32
69(1)(g) re (a)	874
69(1)(g) re (b)	29
69(1)(g) re (c)	440
69(1)(g) re (d)	345
69(1)(g) re (e)	508
69(1)(g) re (f)	248

Certificate under the Canada Evidence Act
Provision	Number of requests
69.1(1)	12

Consultations

The number of consultations between federal government institutions in 2015-16 was fairly consistent with 2014-15.

Consultations by other government institutions regarding Access to Information Act requests: 2015-16 and 2014-15
Consultations	Number of consultations		Number of pages to review
Consultations	2015-16	2014-15	2015-16	2014-15
Received during reporting period	8,099	7,918	397,689	409,533
Outstanding from the previous reporting period	687	622	123,076	119,479
Total	8,786	8,540	520,765	529,012
Closed during the reporting period	8,101	7,877	409,029	456,120
Pending at the end of the reporting period	685	663	111,736	72,892

Recommendations and closure time for consultations by other government institutions regarding Access to Information Act requests
Recommendation	Number of days required to close consultation requests
Recommendation	1 to 30 days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More Than 365 days	Total
Table 11 Notes Table 11 Note 1 “Consult other institution” refers to a government institution’s recommendation that the institution that consulted them contact additional government institutions subject to the Access to Information Act. Return to table 11 note 1 referrer
Disclose entirely	3,434	555	150	23	11	8	4,181
Disclose in part	1,718	777	386	86	65	25	3,057
Exempt entirely	114	47	11	3	1	0	176
Exclude entirely	52	10	4	0	1	1	68
Consult other institution^{table 11 note 1}	129	38	14	6	8	2	197
Other	336	36	23	4	13	10	422
Total	5,783	1,463	588	122	99	46	8,101

Fees and costs

The annual cost to administer the Government of Canada’s access to information program declined by 3.7 percent to $64.6 million in 2015-16, with the average cost per closed request declining by 11.0 percent to about $890 per request.

Fees waived increased to $138,070, which may, in part, be an outcome of a Federal Court of Appeal decision issued on March 31, 2015, Canada (Office of the Information Commissioner) v. Canada (Attorney General) that clarified that search or preparation fees cannot be charged for electronic records retrieved in response to an access to information request. On May 5, 2016, the Treasury Board Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act further directed government institutions to waive all fees apart from the initial $5 application fee. The impact of this new policy is expected to be reflected in fees collected for 2016-17.

Fees and costs of Access to Information Act operations: 2015-16 and 2014-15
Description of fees and costs	Amount
Description of fees and costs	2015-16	2014-15
Table 12 Notes Table 12 Note 1 Cost of operations includes salaries, overtime, goods and services, contracts and all other expenses specific to Access to Information and Privacy offices. Costs associated with time spent by business areas searching for and reviewing records are not included here. Return to table 12 note 1 referrer Table 12 Note 2 This calculation uses the total cost of operations in the reporting period to obtain the average cost per closed request. However, in actuality, the total cost of operations reflects processing costs of some requests that will be carried over into the next reporting period, in addition to closed requests, so the calculation is an approximation. Return to table 12 note 2 referrer
Cost of operations^{table 12 note 1}	$64,619,278.00	$67,073,342.00
Requests closed	72,581	67,032
Average cost per closed request^{table 12 note 2}	$890.31	$1,000.62
Pages processed	9,025,729	9,919,349
Average cost per processed page	$7.16	$6.76
Number of requests in which fees were collected	69,450	62,391
Fees collected	$386,390	$367,654
Average fees collected per request	$5.56	$5.89
Number of requests in which fees were waived or refunded	10,041	12,733
Fees waived or refunded	$138,070	$128,795
Average fees waived per request	$13.75	$10.12

Informal requests for government information

An informal request is a request for information made to a government institution subject to the Access to Information Act that is either not made or not processed under the Act. Unlike formal requests, fees cannot be charged under the Act for informal requests, and there are no deadlines for responding. In addition, the requester has no statutory right of complaint to the Information Commissioner.

Informal requests include formal requests that were discontinued in favour of providing information informally, in consultation with the requester. Other types of informal requests include advising requesters when information is already publicly available online, or the re-release of information made available through previously closed formal requests, summaries of which are found online. They do not include responses to Parliamentary Questions or media enquiries, or requests made internally within a government institution to share information between sectors.

In 2015-16, about two-thirds of informal requests were closed within 30 days.

Time required to close informal requests
0 to 30 Days	31 to 60 days	61 to 120 days	121 to 180 days	181 to 365 days	More Than 365 days	Total
9,471	931	2,899	562	193	62	14,118

Access to Information Act requests since 1983

The statistics that follow reflect the best available data since 1983. The categories have been adjusted in some cases in order to compare data across the years.

Number of Access to Information Act requests since 1983
Requests under the Access to Information Act	Number of requests
Requests received	781,396
Requests closed	762,243

Disposition of closed Access to Information Act requests since 1983. Text version below: — **Figure 06: Disposition of closed Access to Information Act requests since 1983**

Disposition of closed requests	Requests as percentage
All disclosed	26.4%
Disclosed in part	48.0%
Unable to process	19.7%
Withheld entirely	2.6%
Other	3.2%

In the preceding figure:

“Withheld entirely” includes categories “all exempted” and “all excluded.”
“Other” includes the categories “transferred,” “neither confirmed nor denied” and “treated informally.”
“Unable to process” includes the categories “no records exist ^{Footnote 4},” “abandoned ^{Footnote 5}” and “requests that could not be processed ^{Footnote 6}.”

Disposition of closed Access to Information Act requests since 1983
Disposition of closed requests	Requests as percentage	Number of requests
Disclosed in part	48.0%	366,216
All disclosed	26.4%	201,416
All exempted	1.9%	14,847
All excluded	0.6%	4,872
No records exist	3.9%	30,008
Abandoned	3.4%	25,542
Transferred	1.3%	9,873
Neither confirmed nor denied	0.1%	706
Treated informally	1.8%	14,057
Requests that could not be processed	12.4%	94,706
Total	100.0%	762,243

Time required to close Access to Information Act Requests since 1983
Closure time (including requests for which extensions were required)	Requests as percentage	Number of requests
0 to 30 days	60.4%	460,129
31 to 60 days	18.7%	142,246
61 days or more	21.0%	159,868
Total	100.0%	762,243

Fees and costs of Access to Information Act since 1983
Description of fees and costs of operations	Amount
Table 13 Notes Table 13 Note 1 The cumulative cost of operations since 1983 has not been adjusted for inflation. Return to table 13 note 1 referrer Table 13 Note 2 This calculation uses the total cost of operations to obtain the average cost per closed request since 1983. However, in actuality, the total cost of operations reflects processing costs of some requests that will be carried over into the next reporting period, in addition to closed requests, so the calculation is an approximation. Return to table 13 note 2 referrer Table 13 Note 3 This calculation uses the total amount of fees collected to obtain the average fees collected per closed request since 1983. However, in actuality, fees would not have been collected for every closed request. Return to table 13 note 3 referrer Table 13 Note 4 This calculation uses the total amount of fees waived to obtain the average fees waived per closed request since 1983. However, in actuality, fees would not have been waived for every closed request. Return to table 13 note 4 referrer
Requests closed	762,243
Cost of operations^{table 13 note 1}	$802,163,399.70
Average cost per closed request^{table 13 note 2}	$1,052.37
Fees collected	$6,870,785.02
Average fees collected per closed request^{table 13 note 3}	$9.01
Fees waived	$3,372,444.94
Average fees waived per closed request^{table 13 note 4}	$4.42

Privacy Act statistics, 2015-16

Requests under the Privacy Act

70,833 requests were received in 2015-16, an increase of 5.1 percent from 2014-15.

Of 85,855 requests that were received in 2015-16 or were outstanding from the previous period, 81.6 percent were closed. This is relatively consistent with 2014-15: out of 78,947 requests that were received in 2014-15 or were outstanding from the previous period, 80.6 percent were closed.

Ten government institutions received 91.1 percent of all new requests in 2015-16.

Requests received and closed under the Privacy Act
Requests under the Privacy Act	Number of requests
Table 14 Notes Table 14 Note 1 Due to administrative errors, there are small inconsistencies between the 2014-15 statistical data and the 2015-16 statistical data regarding the number of requests or consultations left outstanding at the end of the 2014-15 reporting period. Return to table 14 note 1 referrer
Outstanding from 2014-15 reporting period^{table 14 note 1}	15,022
Received during 2015-16 reporting period	70,833
Total	85,855
Closed during 2015-16 reporting period	70,079
Carried over to 2016-17 reporting period	15,776

Requests received and closed under the Privacy Act: 2015-16 and 2014-15. Text version below: — **Figure 07: Requests received and closed under the Privacy Act: 2015-16 and 2014-15**

Requests under the Privacy Act	2015-16	2014-15
Outstanding from previous reporting period	15,022	11,548
Requests received during reporting period	70,833	67,399
Closed during reporting period	70,079	63,650
Carried over to next reporting period	15,776	15,297

Privacy Act requests by top ten institutions
Rank	Name of institution	Received requests as percentage	Number of received requests	Pages processed^{table 15 note 1}
Table 15 Notes Table 15 Note 1 The number of pages processed per government institution represents the total processed pages for closed requests. This does not include the number of pages processed for requests that were carried over into the next reporting period. Return to table 15 note 1 referrer
1	Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada	21.6%	15,292	778,052
2	Canada Border Services Agency	15.9%	11,247	296,293
3	Employment and Social Development Canada	11.8%	8,353	789,762
4	Correctional Service of Canada	10.6%	7,502	753,577
5	National Defence	9.9%	6,978	2,819,375
6	Immigration and Refugee Board	7.4%	5,248	215,445
7	Royal Canadian Mounted Police	6.5%	4,615	1,049,014
8	Canada Revenue Agency	4.3%	3,048	476,832
9	Canadian Security Intelligence Service	1.7%	1,212	10,354
10	Public Service Commission of Canada	1.5%	1,036	30,709
Other institutions		8.9%	6,302	1,153,309
Total		100.0%	70,833	8,372,722