The information and privacy commissioner plans to start grading B.C. ministries on their compliance with the provincial Freedom of Information Act.

In his annual report on freedom of information and protection of privacy, David Loukidelis said Tuesday the government has a serious problem with ministries failing to respond to FOI requests in a timely way.

Government ministries are regularly failing to meet their own time limit of 30 business days to respond to information requests, Loukidelis said in Victoria.

The average response time reached 51 business days for general information, Loukidelis said.

"So what I've decided to do is, starting with a pilot project this fall, [is] move towards a system of regular public-compliance reporting so we can identify problem areas," Loukidelis said.

The FOI legislation allows citizens to ask the government to release government records, databases and other information not normally made public.

Two years ago, Loukidelis said, he set up a process to ensure fewer requests for information were simply refused.

While that's resulted in far fewer refusals, Loukidelis said, it's taking the ministries longer to respond to requests.

The commissioner did not fault the staff, calling them dedicated and hard working but lacking money and resources.

Loukidelis also said the number of privacy breaches are up and urged businesses and governments to do a better job of protecting people's personal information.

He's calling on the provincial government to ensure the privacy of patients as it develops an electronic health records system for use by doctors and other medical staff.