Information Commissioner's Office

Norwich City Council

25 June 2015, Local government (City council)

The complainant requested information relating to benefit fraud allegations and investigations from Norwich City Council (“the council”). The council refused to provide the information, relying on the exemptions under section 40(2) and 41(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”). These exemptions relate to personal data and information provided in confidence. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council should have said that the majority of the requested information was not held. It correctly relied on the exemption under section 40(2) to withhold some of the information however other information was incorrectly withheld using section 40(2) and 41(1). The Commissioner found breaches of section 1(1)(a), 1(1)(b), 10(1) and 17(1) of the FOIA. There is a confidential annex associated with this decision. The Commissioner requires the public authority to provide the information to the complainant in response to request (a) “How many cases of apparent fraud reported concerning sheltered housing tenants with a 15 mile radius from City Hall?” The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

FOI 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 17: Upheld FOI 40: Partly upheld FOI 41: Upheld