In a series of requests, the complainant requested information about ‘Varioguard’, a type of road barrier. Highways England has aggregated the cost of complying with the most recent request with the cost of complying with earlier requests; requests to which it had responded. Highways England refused to comply with the current request under section 12(1) of the FOIA as it considers the cost of doing so would exceed the appropriate limit. The Commissioner’s decision is as follows: Highways England is entitled under section 12(4) of the FOIA to aggregate the cost of complying with the request of 17 July 2020 with the cost incurred through its compliance with requests of 13 May 2020, 5 June 2020 and 12 June 2020. The Commissioner finds that the cost of complying with the complainant’s current request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12(1) of the FOIA and that Highways England is not obliged to comply with it. In the circumstances there was no breach of section 16(1) (advice and assistance). The Commissioner does not require Highways England to take any remedial steps.
FOI 12: Complaint not upheld FOI 16: Complaint not upheld
Citations:
[2021] UKICO IC-60093
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.665905