Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested information consisting of the names of the members of a youth council and their place of residence. Surrey Heath Borough Council refused to provide the names, citing section 40(2) of the Act. The Commissioner has investigated the complaint and finds that Surrey Heath Borough Council correctly applied section 40(2) of the Act. However, it provided the locations of the members of the Youth Council that had been obtained from Surrey County Council but confirmed during the course of the investigation that it did not hold the specific addresses. The Commissioner has concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, the address information is not held by Surrey Heath Borough Council and therefore it complied with section 1(1)(a) in stating that the information was not held. However, Surrey Heath Borough Council breached section 10(1) of the Act in not confirming that it did not hold this information within the statutory timeframe. Information Tribunal appeal number EA/2011/0173 part allowed.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Not upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 40 - Complaint Not upheld