YORK council is looking for a new transparency boss to help it deal with soaring numbers of Freedom of Information requests.

The city council's Director of Customer and Business Support Services Ian Floyd published a formal decision last week to create the new post, to deal with transparency and "information governance" at the authority.

A report by the Local Government Association earlier this year highlighted some problems with transparency and openness at the authority, but a spokesman for the council has said the new job is not a response to those criticisms, but to deal with the new Local Government Transparency Code, which sets out the minimum amount of data councils should be publishing.

Mr Floyd said: "The creation of the post of Information Governance Manager seeks to address an increase in workload and legislation in this area. It is not in direct response to the LGA review, but rather a reflection of the council’s long-term plans and investment in this growing area."

The authority saw the number of FOI requests received soar by 72 percent in two years until 2013/14 - when it answered 81 percent of the requests within the 20 day limit.

From April to September last year, the council answered 92.6 percent on time - up on the national average of 83.2 percent.