Dr Gordon Macdonald (Dr Macdonald) asked North Lanarkshire Council (the Council) to provide copies of all email correspondence between one of its Councillors and a named Councillor from South Lanarkshire Council, during a specified period.
The Council advised Dr Macdonald that such emails are held by the Council on behalf of the Councillor, and as such are not held for the purposes of FOISA.
Dr Macdonald was dissatisfied with this response and asked the Council to review its decision. The Council carried out a review, which upheld its decision. Dr Macdonald remained dissatisfied with the Council’s response and applied to the Commissioner for a decision.
After investigation, the Commissioner accepted that searches had revealed no trace of any relevant communications, and found that the Council had complied with Part 1 of FOISA in notifying Dr Macdonald that the information he had asked for was not held.
Citations:
[2008] ScotIC 129 – 2008
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Information
Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.434210