Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: On 3 September 2009 the complainant requested information from the London Borough of Hillingdon relating to the cost of providing accommodation and care for unaccompanied asylum seekers. The public authority provided some of the information requested on 15 March 2010, in excess of 6 months after the date of the initial request, but it refused to disclose the rest citing section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act. The Commissioner has only considered the failure to respond within 20 working days and has not looked at the application of section 36 to the withheld information. His decision is that in failing to confirm or deny that it held information covered by the request and to provide an appropriate response to the complainant within the statutory time frame for compliance the London Borough of Hillingdon breached section 10(1) of the Act in failing to comply with section 1(1) within twenty working days.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld