Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant has made three requests for information from Your Homes Newcastle (-�YHN-�) about the existence and details of any noise, anti-social, and harassment complaints that have originated from his current address up to 28 October 2012. YHN relied upon section 40(5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (-�the FOIA-�) to refuse the first request, claiming it was unable to confirm or deny if it held the information. YHN subsequently cited section 40(2) of the FOIA to refuse the following two requests, and explained that any disclosure it could provide would represent the personal data of third parties. The Commissioner-�s decision is that YHN correctly identified that the requested disclosure would be personal data, and was correct to rely upon section 40(5) of the FOIA in refusing the first request. YHN incorrectly cited section 40(2) of the FOIA to refuse the following two requests, but the Commissioner is satisfied that no disclosure occurred despite this. The Commissioner also identified that YHN should have cited 13(5) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (-�the EIR-�) in their refusal of all three requests, as part of the requested disclosure relates to environmental information. The Commissioner does not require YHN to take any steps.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 40 - Complaint Not upheld