Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made a request for a copy of the full audit which showed how £96,000, provided by Somerset County Council, was spent by the Park Authority for the maintenance of rights of way. The Park Authority stated that this money was not accounted for separately and therefore the information was not held. However it provided the complainant with a copy of the financial tables contained within its business plan and directed the complaint to the correct page showing the Recreation Management budgets. The complainant maintained that the money in question was -�ring-fenced-� and therefore information was held. The Commissioner considered the complainant-�s request and the way in which this was handled by the Park Authority. He concluded that no recorded information was held by the Park Authority relevant to the complainant-�s request and therefore that regulation 12(4)(a) of the EIR applied in this case. However, he also found that the Park Authority breached regulation 14(3)(a) by not citing the specific exception it relied upon when explaining that no information was held.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 12.4.a - Complaint Not upheld, EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld