Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested information from Wigan Borough Council (-�the council-�) that had been referred to in a particular press article. The unauthorised disclosure of some documents had resulted in the dismissal of a council employee and the complainant wanted to see the information that contained the quoted comment in the newspaper article that the community should be -�kept out of the decision-making process-�. The request was initially refused using an exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (-�the FOIA-�), however, when the council realised that the complainant-�s interest was limited only to the particular quoted comments, it said that this information was not held. The Commissioner-�s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the requested information was not held by the council. The Commissioner does not require any steps to be taken.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Not upheld