Summary: The complainant requested the level of payment made by the public authority against invoices issued by a company for financial services provided by one of its employees to the public authority within a specified period. The public authority confirmed it held the information requested and subsequently withheld the information by virtue of the exemption at section 43(2) of the Act. During the course of the investigation, the public authority informed the Commissioner that it did not actually hold any information matching the complainant-™s request. After considering the case, Commissioner is satisfied that at the time of the request, the public authority did not, on the balance of probabilities, hold the information requested by the complainant. However, he finds the public authority in breach of section 1(1)(a) of the Act for failing to deny that it held information relating to the complainant-™s request and section 10(1) for failing to respond to the request within twenty working days. He also finds the public authority in breach of section 17(1) for failing to issue a refusal notice within 20 working days and 17(1)(b) for failing to cite fully the exemption it was relying on.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 43 - Complaint Not upheld