Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made requests for job descriptions of staff within the office of the Government Chief Whip and for accounting information relating to that body. The public authority initially disclosed some information and stated that no further information was held. Following the intervention of the Commissioner, the public authority acknowledged that it did hold further information falling within the scope of the request for job descriptions and cited the exemption provided by section 40(2) (personal information) in relation to this information. The Commissioner finds that this exemption was cited correctly and the public authority is not required to disclose this information. In relation to the accounting information, the Commissioner finds that the public authority stated correctly and in accordance with section 1(1)(a) that it did not hold this information. The Commissioner also finds that the public authority failed to comply with the procedural requirements of sections 1(1)(a), 10(1) and 17(1)(b) in its handling of the requests.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 40 - Complaint Not upheld