Information Commissioner's Office

Cheveley Parish Council

24 June 2014, Local government (Parish council)

The complainant has requested a copy of a letter that was mentioned in Cheveley Parish Council’s (the council) meeting minutes of 12 February 2013. This was originally refused under section 14, 40 and 41 of the FOIA. During the Commissioner’s investigations, the council instead provided the letter but redacted parts of it relying on section 40(2) and 21 of the FOIA to do so. Other than the redacted name of the addressee, the Complainant disagreed with the rest of the council’s redactions. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council has incorrectly relied on section 21 and 40(2) of the FOIA to the disputed redactions. The Commissioner has also found that the council has breached section 10(1) of the FOIA as it did not provide the information within the required 20 working days from the receipt of the request. The Commissioner requires the public authority to provide the complainant with a copy of the requested letter as indicated in the confidential annex, which has been provided to the council only.

FOI 10: Upheld FOI 21: Upheld