The complainant requested from London Borough of Hackney (‘the Council’) information relating to building control files. The Council maintained that it does not hold one of the three files requested and relied on the exception under regulation 12(4)(a) (information not held). With regard to the remaining two files, the Council stated that the information was exempt from disclosure and relied on regulation 13(1) (personal data), regulation 12(5)(c) (intellectual property rights) and regulations 8(1) and (3) of the EIR. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the Council is correct to state that it does not hold recorded information falling within the scope of the request to file FP2016/24498. With regard to the two files FP2005/0992 and FP2007/0724 the Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is not entitled to rely on regulation 13(1) to withhold the information requested. Also, the Council failed to demonstrate that regulations 12(5)(c), 8(1) and 8(3) of the EIR are engaged. Furthermore, the Commissioner has found there to be a breach of regulation 5(2) and regulation 14(2) of the EIR. This is because the Council initially failed to consider the request under the correct access regime and it also failed to respond to the request within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation. – Disclose the withheld information. The Council must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.
EIR 13(1): Complaint upheld EIR 12(5)(c): Complaint upheld EIR 8(1): Complaint upheld EIR 8: Complaint upheld EIR 12(4): Complaint not upheld
Citations:
[2022] UKICO ic-85613
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.674955