Summary: The complainant made a request for a large amount of pay and grading information in a specified format. The public authority asserted that it did not hold some of the information and that section 21(1) [information already reasonable accessible to applicant by others means] applied to the information that it did hold. It also said that to provide the information in the requested format would be a section 12(1) [the fees limit] issue. It reaffirmed its position in its internal review. The Commissioner has considered the public authority-™s application of section 12(1) and is satisfied that it could be applied correctly by the Council to the whole request. He did not go on to consider the application of sections 14(2), 21(1), 36(2), 40(2) or 43(1). He has however found a breach of section 16(1) as he does not believe that the Council provided all the advice and assistance that could be reasonably expected of it when processing the request originally, breaches of sections 10(1) and 17(5) with regard to not issuing a notice which applied section 12(1) within the statutory timescales and section 1(1)(a) for incorrectly denying that it held relevant recorded information. The Commissioner requires that the public authority contacts the complainant and discusses how it can narrow the request in order for it to comply with section 16(1).
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 12 - Complaint Not upheld, FOI 16 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld