Information Commissioner's Office

Argoed Community Council

29 August 2007, Local government (District council)

The complainant requested from the public authority a copy of its procedural standing orders. After initially not responding to the request, the public authority issued a refusal notice, citing the exemption at section 21 of the Act. Following a request for internal review, the public authority withdrew reliance on section 21 and issued a fees notice to the complainant. In addition, the public authority asked the complainant to sign a disclaimer before disclosing the information. The complainant paid the fee but refused to sign the disclaimer. After investigation from the Commissioner, the public authority disclosed the information without receiving the signed disclaimer. However, as the information requested is listed in the public authority’s publication scheme, the Commissioner’s decision is that the authority breached section 19 of the Act by not making the information available. The Commissioner also considers that the public authority breached section 1 of the Act by insisting upon a signed disclaimer as a pre-condition of supplying the information.

FOI 1: Upheld