Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested correspondence held by the Department for Communities and Local Government (-�the DCLG-�) relating to ownership of the CON29 enquiries form, and information about the formation of a working group to review the questions on the current version of the form. The DCLG responded that it did not hold any information on the latter point and refused to disclose information about the CON29 form, citing the exemption at section 42(1). During the Information Commissioner-�s investigation it substituted section 41(1) for section 42(1) in respect of some of that information. The Information Commissioner-�s decision is that the DCLG withheld some of the information correctly under the exemptions at section 41(1) and 42(1). However, some of the information was not covered by the exemption at section 41(1). The DCLG also breached section 17(1) of the Act by introducing an exemption during the investigation which it had not specified on a refusal notice or during the internal review. The Information Commissioner accepts that the DCLG did not hold any information in respect of the second part of the request. However, by failing to confirm to the complainant that it did not hold the information within the statutory time for compliance it breached section 10(1). The Information Commissioner requires the DCLG to disclose the information which is not covered by section 41(1) (bundles 3, 4 and 10) to the complainant.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 41 - Complaint Partly Upheld, FOI 42 - Complaint Not upheld