The complainant requested from Sheffield City Council (‘the Council’) information relating to the Council’s use of a specific email header. The Council refused the request under section 14(1) of the FOIA as it considered it to be vexatious. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was not entitled to rely upon section 14(1) of the FOIA to refuse to comply with this request. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Issue a fresh response to the request in which it does not cite section 14(1) of the FOIA. 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.
FOI 14(1): Complaint upheld
Citations:
[2021] UKICO IC-70762
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 17 September 2022; Ref: scu.662893