In 2018 the complainant submitted a request to the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (‘the Trust’) for information associated with the creation of a subsidiary property service company. The request covered attachments to email correspondence but the Trust did not consider the attachments in its response. The Trust has now considered the request for attachments and has refused to comply with this aspect of the original request, citing FOIA sections 12(1) (cost exceeds appropriate limit) and section 14(1) (vexatious requests). In addition, the Trust indicated to the complainant that it considered that information in the attachments would engage the exemptions under section 36(2)(prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs), section 40 (personal data), section 41 (information provided in confidence), section 42 (legal professional privilege) and section 43(2) (commercially sensitive) of the FOIA. The Trust subsequently advised the Commissioner that, at this point, it is relying on section 12(1) and section 14(1) only in respect of the attachments. The Commissioner’s decision is as follows: The Trust cannot rely on section 12(1) of the FOIA to refuse to comply with the request for the attachments. The request for attachments can be categorised as a vexatious request under section 14(1) of the FOIA because of the disproportionate burden that complying with it would cause the Trust. The Commissioner does not require the Trust to take any remedial steps.
FOI 14: Complaint not upheld FOI 12: Complaint upheld
Citations:
[2020] UKICO IC-45378-P6C4
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 21 October 2022; Ref: scu.656168