Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant has requested information relating to the provision of care services in the area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich (the -�Council-�). Initially, the Council cited the exemption at section 43 (commercial interests) as a basis for refusing to provide that information which was not publicly available. During the course of the Commissioner-�s investigation, it revised its position and provided some further information. It argued that the remainder was exempt under section 12 (cost limit) or section 43. The Commissioner-�s decision is that Council is entitled to rely on section 12 and section 43 as a basis for refusing to provide the information which still remains withheld. However, the Council failed to comply with its obligations under section 16 (advice and assistance) in its handling of the complainant-�s requests. It also failed to comply with its obligations under sections 1 and section 10 of the Act when it failed to respond to the request within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to write to the complainant to suggest that he make his request more specific by asking for information relating to a specific care home/agency and supply the complainant with the paragraph of explanation that it provided to the Commissioner in its letter of 10 February 2014 regarding Request 1. This is a single paragraph on the first page of that letter which begins -�All contracts -�-�.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 12 - Complaint Not upheld, FOI 16 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 43 - Complaint Not upheld