The complainant requested information about the numbers of partially retired civil servants and prison officers who worked overtime during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Finance refused the request stating that the information about civil servants was not held and that information about the prison officers was exempt under section 40(2) of FOIA due to the small number of individuals involved. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Department did hold the requested information about the numbers of partially retired civil servants but did not hold information about the numbers of partially retired prison officers. Therefore, the Department failed to comply with sections 1, 10 and 17(1) of the FOIA. The Department also has not demonstrated that section 40(2) of the FOIA is engaged and is not entitled to rely on that exemption. The Commissioner does not require the Department to take any further steps.
FOI 17: Complaint upheld FOI 10: Complaint upheld FOI 1: Complaint upheld
Citations:
[2021] UKICO IC-85034
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 18 November 2022; Ref: scu.669517