Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made a freedom of information request to the Financial Services Authority for any information it holds in relation to any concerns it may have regarding the management of the Leeds City Credit Union. The public authority refused to confirm or deny if it held the requested information by relying on section 31(3) (Law enforcement) and section 43(3)(Commercial Interests) of the Act and concluded that the public interest favoured maintaining the exclusion of the duty to confirm or deny. The public authority also applied section 40(5) (Personal information) but only after the Commissioner had commenced his investigation. The Commissioner has investigated the complaint and has found that section 31(3), section 43(3) and section 40(5) are not engaged. Therefore he has found that the public authority breached section 1(1)(a) by failing to confirm or deny if the information was held and section 10 by failing to confirm or deny if he information was held within 20 working days. In its handling of the request the Commissioner found that the public authority also breached sections 17(1), 17(1)(b) and 17(1)(c) (refusal of a request). The Commissioner requires the public authority to inform the complainant if it holds the requested information and if the information is held to provide it to the complainant or else issue a refusal notice in accordance with section 17(1) of the Act. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this notice.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 31 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 40 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 43 - Complaint Upheld