Mr Ben Henderson asked Perth and Kinross Council (the Council) for (a) information relating to the actions and practices of Building Standards staff which resulted in recent disciplinary action, and (b) information on actions or practices of staff in the past which gave reason for suspicion that Council staff, particularly those from the Building Standards and Planning section, may have been involved in similar actions or practices prior to the current case. The Council refused to disclose the information on the basis that it was exempt from disclosure under sections 30(c) (effective conduct of public affairs) and 38(1)(b) (personal data) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Following a review, Mr Henderson remained dissatisfied and applied to the Commissioner for a decision.
Following an investigation, the Commissioner found that the Council had partially failed to deal with Mr Henderson’s request for information in accordance with Part 1 of FOISA.
The Commissioner found that by applying the exemption in section 38(1)(b) of FOISA to all of the withheld information, which fell within scope of part (a) of Mr Henderson’s request, the Council complied with Part 1.
However, in failing to notify Mr Henderson that it does not (and did not at the time of Mr Henderson’s request) hold any relevant recorded information which would address part (b) of his request, the Council failed to comply with Part 1 and in particular section 17(1) of FOISA. Since this decision makes the position clear on this point, the Commissioner did not require the Council to take any action in relation to this breach.
Citations:
[2012] ScotIC 003 – 2012)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Information
Updated: 16 August 2022; Ref: scu.451505