The complainant had made a number of requests to the public authority prior to this case. The first request dealt with in this Decision Notice (the original request’) was for all information which had been redacted from documents released as a result of one of the previous requests on the basis that it was not relevant to that request. In response to the original request the public authority provided some information but withheld the remainder by reference to section 36(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The complainant made a supplementary request for a copy of the qualified person’s reasonable opinion in respect of the application of section 36 to the original request, and the date on which the opinion had been made. The public authority withheld that information on the grounds that it too was exempt, under section 36(2)(b) and (c). During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the public authority disclosed the information relating to the original request. The Commissioner required the public authority to disclose part of the withheld information in the supplementary request. In relation to both the original and supplementary requests the Commissioner decided that the public authority had failed to comply with the procedural requirements of sections 1(1)(b), 10(1), 17(1) and 17(2).
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: FOI 10 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 36 – Complaint Partly Upheld
[2009] UKICO FS50147876
Bailii
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.532399